Washington education regulators have permanently barred two former educators from working in the state's public schools after convictions in separate child exploitation investigations.
Final orders issued by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) on October 7 and October 6, 2026, revoked the teaching certificates of a former White Pass School District Superintendent and a former Archbishop Murphy High School teacher. The orders permanently cancel the men's credentials and bar them from seeking reinstatement.
The former White Pass superintendent was sentenced to nine years in prison in June. The former teacher received a sentence of one year and one day in May, according to state findings.
Former White Pass superintendent
The former superintendent held the position during the 2025–26 school year. According to the state's order, Longview police received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on or about April 30, 2025, indicating an internet user had uploaded sexually explicit images of minors.
The order states that officers executed a search warrant on December 16, 2025, and reviewed messages in which the former superintendent discussed trading pictures and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
According to state findings, Longview police arrested the former superintendent on January 13, 2026. Three days later, the district placed him on unpaid leave, and prosecutors filed three first-degree dealing charges and 10 first-degree possession charges in Cowlitz County Superior Court. He resigned as superintendent on March 17.
According to state records, a felony sex-offense guilty plea statement was signed on May 6. In a separate written response to the agency on May 15, the former superintendent said he had not known the videos he viewed contained minors engaged in sexually explicit activity until his attorney informed him in March.
The order states that on June 17, the former superintendent was convicted by guilty plea of one count of first-degree dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and three counts of first-degree possession.
The order lists a sentence of 108 months in prison, followed by 36 months of community custody, along with $3,000 in restitution and sex offender registration.
Former Archbishop Murphy teacher
The former teacher served as a classroom instructor at Archbishop Murphy High School during the 2024–25 school year. State regulators found he downloaded and viewed multiple sexually explicit videos involving minors between July and December 2024.
The order states there was no evidence the minors in those videos were students at the school.
According to state findings, the former teacher admitted downloading and viewing the videos when King County Sheriff’s Office detectives executed a search warrant on February 18, 2025. He was arrested and booked into the King County Jail.
According to the order, the school placed the former teacher on administrative leave on February 20 and issued a notice of termination on February 24.
Prosecutors filed two charges of possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit acts in King County Superior Court that same day. School President Steve Schmutz reported the case to OSPI's Office of Professional Practices, which received his complaint on March 3.
An amended charging document filed on April 22, 2026, reduced the case to one possession count, and a guilty plea statement was filed that day. According to state records, a judgment and sentence filed May 29 recorded the conviction by guilty plea on that possession count.
In addition to a 12-month-and-one-day jail term, the court imposed 36 months of post-release supervision under the Department of Corrections and required registration as a sex offender.
The judgment also imposed a $1,500 monetary penalty, with the amount of restitution to be finalized at a later date. A separate provision limits interaction with minors for a decade, permitting contact only when accompanied by an adult supervisor who has full knowledge of the individual’s conviction history.
Both orders, issued to revoke professional credentials, were formally executed by Monique Malson, Deputy Chief Legal Officer at the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Agency officials invoked state law mandating lifetime revocation of licenses for certain felony convictions.
The revocation stemmed from statutory requirements that automatically trigger license withdrawal upon conviction of specified serious offenses, removing discretion from administrative reviewers in such cases.