Jason Agan was officially deemed "unfit to teach" after sexually harassing students at Angelo Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, California. But the state's broken oversight system allowed him to keep his teaching license and work at two more schools over the next three years.
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See subscription optionsThe math teacher's downfall began in September 2018 when at least 11 students and one parent filed written complaints about his behavior with the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, according to a KQED and ProPublica investigation. Students reported that Agan touched them inappropriately in public, including unwanted hugs and shoulder massages during class time, and obsessively enforced dress codes targeting female students in his AP Calculus and Algebra II classes.
The district suspended Agan without pay by January 2019 and moved to fire him that spring. An independent state administrative law panel later ruled him "unfit to teach" in December 2019 after nearly a year of proceedings that cost the district more than $85,000 in legal fees.
System Failure Puts More Students at Risk
Here's where California's teacher oversight system failed: The panel's finding wasn't shared publicly, and it only addressed Agan's employment at Fairfield-Suisun Unified. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing had sole authority to determine whether he could keep teaching elsewhere in the state's 10,000-plus public schools.
Over the next three years, Agan landed jobs at Vallejo City Unified School District in fall 2020, then at Liberty High School in Brentwood by 2022. The state credentialing commission issued him just a one-week suspension of his teaching license in March 2020 for his behavior at Rodriguez High. Parents and administrators at his new schools weren't informed about the full extent of his misconduct or the "unfit to teach" ruling.
The pattern continued at Dan Mini Elementary School in Vallejo. In spring 2021, Agan faced another accusation of unwanted touching involving an eighth grader during after-school tutoring, according to district incident reports. Yet the credentialing commission never alerted Vallejo City Unified administrators about the Rodriguez High findings when they hired him.
Students Detail Years of Uncomfortable Encounters
Fourteen Rodriguez High graduates interviewed for the investigation described years of whispered concerns about Agan's behavior dating back to 2015. Despite being a prominent figure who ran student government activities and taught the school's most advanced math courses, students said he made them uncomfortable with inappropriate touching during one-on-one tutoring sessions and his fixation on female students' clothing choices.
Former student Maria Santos, who graduated in 2018, filed one of the original complaints describing how Agan would single out girls for dress code violations while male students with similar infractions went unnoticed. Other students reported feeling "creeped out" by unsolicited shoulder rubs and prolonged hugs that lasted longer than appropriate teacher-student contact.
Teacher Denies Sexual Intent
Agan, now 47 and living in Vacaville, denied any sexual motivation behind his actions when questioned by the independent administrative panel in October 2019. He claimed he was simply offering students "support and encouragement" and denied massaging them, according to official transcripts from the hearing.
The teacher did not respond to multiple interview requests from reporters over a six-month period, including attempts at his Alamo Drive apartment and questions sent via email and certified mail.
Reform Pressure Mounts
This case exposes a dangerous gap in California's teacher oversight system that affects the nation's largest state school system, serving 6 million students. While administrative law judges can rule a teacher unfit for one district, those findings remain sealed from public view under Education Code Section 44944. The credentialing commission operates separately, often issuing light punishments that allow problem teachers to simply move between the state's 58 county school systems.
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, chair of the Education Committee, plans to introduce legislation in January 2024 requiring the credentialing commission to automatically review any "unfit to teach" finding. The California Teachers Association opposes broader information sharing, citing due process concerns for educators.
The credentialing commission faces a February 2024 deadline to respond to reform recommendations from the state auditor, who found similar gaps in teacher misconduct tracking across multiple districts.
