Scc Won’t Rehire Math Instructor

Tue., March 24, 1998

From Staff Reports

A Spokane Community College teacher who had an affair with a high school student will not be rehired for spring quarter, officials said Monday.

Curtis John Brennan, a 46-year-old mathematics instructor, finished winter quarter banned from campus after the student whom he had an affair with a decade ago began taking classes and alerted officials to their past relationship. The job paid Brennan $7,200 per quarter.

“We don’t want to take a risk,” said Geoffrey Eng, director of affirmative action for the Community Colleges of Spokane. “We have a duty to the public to maintain a safe environment for everyone.”

First-year student Kathleen Cooper-Nowlan, 26, said she was relieved that Brennan was gone. Fearing that she or others might be harassed by the instructor, Cooper-Nowlan came forward in February to talk about the relationship that began when she was about 16 years old in Wilbur, Wash.

In 1991, the state suspended Brennan’s license to teach in public schools because of his relationship with Cooper-Nowlan. It denied his application in February to reinstate the certificate.

Brennan said earlier this month that he has never done anything improper with a student, but acknowledged the affair. , DataTimes

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