Teaching license suspension upheld

A decision to suspend the teaching license of a former Spokane Valley private school coach and teacher has been upheld.

State education officials proposed suspending Steve Altmeyer’s teaching license for 30 months after a lengthy investigation into allegations he mistreated students at Valley Christian School.

Altmeyer, 52, appealed the findings and appeared in May before an informal professional conduct committee in Olympia, asking to be cleared of any wrongdoing.

The committee declined and issued a final order June 19 to suspend Altmeyer’s license, said Charles Schreck, the director of the Office of Professional Practice at the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The former coach and teacher will have 30 days to make a second appeal, this time for a hearing in front of an administrative law judge in Spokane. Witnesses would be called to testify during that hearing.

“He has not made a decision on that yet,” said Altmeyer’s attorney, Bill Powell. Altmeyer could not be reached for comment.

The controversy surrounding the former teacher and coach surfaced in 2004, when he left the school amid allegations he mistreated students.

According to records provided by the state, Altmeyer is alleged to have struck students on at least two occasions while coaching at VCS, and once made an obese student sit through class without a shirt on.

Although Altmeyer is a private-school teacher, he is a certified educator and subject to the state’s code of professional conduct.

Altmeyer and his attorney said in May that much of the state’s investigation is based on hearsay and the allegations were fueled by a power struggle between several families and the school.