Graves Goes Beyond Recommendation of Ethics Commission, Permanently Revokes Former Superintendent’s Teaching License

While superintendent of the Northwestern Area School District, Ryan Bruns spoke publicly on a variety of political issues related to education funding and policy. The vocal Bruns superintends no more, and never will, if Secretary of Education Joe Graves has his way. After a bumpy transition and February suspension from superintending at Langford Area School District (a new gig he started one year ago after eight years at Northwestern), Bruns has lost his teaching certificate forever, thanks to Secretary Graves’ choosing to override the Professional Administrators Practices and Standards Commission recommendation of a three-year suspension and other remedies.

In its February 6–7 hearing on the matter, the PAPSC found Bruns had violated multiple provisions of the Code of Ethics for Administrators at Langford and at professional conferences while he worked at Northwestern. The PAPSC recommended Bruns sit out for three years but also recommended Bruns take several actions to get his poop in a group so he could perhaps return to the profession:

…within 90 days of the Order by the Secretary that the administrator obtain a drug and alcohol assessment and provide proof thereof to the Secretary and Commission.

…that the administrator comply with any and all recommendations as contained in the drug and alcohol assessment and provide proof of such compliance with the Secretary and Commission.

…that within 90 days of the Order by the Secretary that the administrator obtain a psychological evaluation in order to determine the severity of any mental health matters and to specifically determine his capacity for functioning as an educator in South Dakota. The administrator shall follow any recommendations as contained in the evaluation and provide proof of such compliance with the Secretary and Commission.

…that within 180 days of the Order by the Secretary that the administrator complete an anger management course. The administrator shall provide proof of such compliance with the Secretary and Commission.

…prior to the reapplication for an educator’s license, the administrator must present an updated psychological evaluation demonstrating the capacity to function as an educator.

…that prior to any request for recertification, that the administrator provide proof to the Accreditation and Certification office of the South Dakota Department of Education of the administrator’s compliance with the above conditions.

…that should the administrator be allowed to obtain an educator’s certificate at the conclusion of any period of suspension that the administrator be required to obtain a professional mentor within the teaching profession, inform the Commission of the mentor’s identity for approval, and maintain a mentor/mentee relationship with that person for a period of two years for the purpose of professional development and guidance [Professional Administrators Practices and Standards Commission, actions recommended in PAPSC matter 2022-13, meeting minutes, 2023.02.07].

In its findings of fact on the Bruns complaint, the PAPSC said Bruns “was hospitalized as a result of some mental health issues” last fall that are “related to his military service.” The PAPSC said that Bruns was “receiving treatment for his condition” and that some of his “inability to appropriately and professionally address situations confronted while a superintendent may be attributed to service-related mental health matters.” The PAPSC appears to have been open to the possibility that Bruns could resolve his problems with proper treatment and return to the field as a productive administrator.

But Secretary Graves, who ascended to his position just last January, rejected such grace. As superintendent at Mitchell prior to his Secretaryship, Graves may have attended the 2021 and 2022 administrators conferences at which Bruns apparently got drunk and verbally altercated with other conference-goers. For whatever reason, Graves wrote in his April 21 order that Bruns’s behavior was “particularly egregious” and warranted the immediate and permanent revocation of Bruns’s teaching certificate.

Graves cites five main points of “egregious behavior”: getting drunk at conferences (“moral turpitude [and] gross immorality”—remember that, Lt. Gov. Rhoden and legislators), changing the school start time before checking with the school lawyer, retaliating against two complaining employees, and disparaging students, to all of which Bruns apparently admitted. So Graves had plenty of grounds for burying Bruns.

But strangely, Graves overstated the argument on Bruns’s drinking. Graves claims that the Professional Standards Commission “found ‘no evidence’ existed Bruns was intoxicated at several professional conferences.” However, the Commission found that Bruns was indeed intoxicated and verbally confrontational at the two professional conferences mentioned in July 2021 and June 2022. The board also heard testimony from Langford school board president Jennifer Gustafson that Bruns “may have been intoxicated during parent-teacher conferences and the school carnival.” However, the Commission said “No evidence was presented to the Commission that Bruns was intoxicated at these two functions.” The Commission’s reference to “no evidence” of intoxication at “these two functions” referred to those local Langford events in 2023, not the two professional conferences preceding Bruns’s employment in Langford.

Banning an individual from professional employment for life is a serious action. If that serious action is warranted, the official taking that action should make sure every point of his action is factual and accurate.