Correction appended
Updated at 3:16 p.m.
A Reynolds High School teacher whose right to apply for his teaching certificate was suspended for a year after admitting to sending thousands of inappropriate texts to girls at the school, is being forced out of the Oregon Air National Guard for drunken driving and lying.
Nick Choy, an Oregon National Guard spokesman, said Capt. Justin Prunk, 33, was questioned by military officials after his DUII arrest last December by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. Choy said another factor leading to his discharged from the guard was because Prunk told school officials that he had not sent the texts.
"He said 'No,' and that was a lie,'' Choy said.
Thursday morning, Choy said, Prunk was placed on inactive ready reserve. Prunk requested the transfer after the questioning by guard officials. Prunk enlisted in 2006 and was an air battle manager with the 116th Air Control Squadron based at Camp Rilea in Warrenton.
Prunk pleaded no contest to the drunken driving charge and was entered into a diversion program and placed on one year of probation in late February.
In the texts to students, Prunk shared information about his marriage and other personal family matters, according to a complaint filed in March with the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission. Though most of the texts were directed at one female student, hundreds more were exchanged with three other girls.
According to the commission report, the messaging took place during school hours and in the early mornings and evenings. Prunk "engaged in inappropriate relationships with students including inappropriate communications and unethical crossing of student/teacher boundaries" during the 2012-13 school year, according to the report.
In a September 2013 letter, the Reynolds School District told Prunk that text messages with students were to be limited to school business and activities, and should occur during reasonable times.
Andrea Watson, a Reynolds School District spokeswoman, said when officials learned of the texts, they reported the incidents to the Fairview and Troutdale police departments. Prunk lives in Fairview.
Fairview detectives who looked into the matter said they subsequently turned the case over to Troutdale police detectives because the incidents occurred mostly at the school or in Troutdale.
Sgt. Carey Kaer, a Troutdale Police Department spokesman, said the case was suspended "and no further action is going to be taken at this time."
Watson said school officials turned over the results of their investigation to the standards and practices commission in March 2014, six months after the allegations came to light. It took another year for the commission to take disciplinary action against Prunk.
When asked why the process took more than a year to complete, Victoria Chamberlain, executive director of the state standards and practices board, said the case "really had a substantial amount of evidence."
She also said that it took seven months from when the case was first reported for all of the district's documentation to reach the commission in October 2014. Then the investigator had to review those documents, interview Prunk and several witnesses, and go over police logs, she noted.
"I think what needs to be taken into account is the number of cases we have, the number of investigators we have and the information we have when the case is reported," said Chamberlain, who is also president of the Professional Educator Standards Board Association.
The investigator submitted the final report to the commission during its Jan. 31, 2015, meeting, during which Prunk was accused of gross neglect of duty. Afterward, the commission received and approved of a settlement agreement.
After one year, Prunk can pursue reinstatement with a four-year probation period, according to the commission. However, he must provide a "favorable psychological evaluation report," and appear before the commission to answer any questions.
Amy Wang of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
-- Stuart Tomlinson
stomlinson@oregonian.com
503-221-8313
@ORweather
This post was modified to reflect the following correction:
On April 16, 2015, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Justin Michael Prunk lost his teaching certificate, was suspended for a year for inappropriate texts to students and had been dismissed from the military. In fact, Prunk's teaching certificate lapsed and his right to reapply for his license was suspended for a year. Also, he was discharged from the Oregon National Guard to the ready reserve at his request after he was questioned about the texts and a drunken driving arrest. The Oregonian/OregonLive regrets publication of the errors.