When Kentucky public school teachers face suspensions or firings from local school districts, they can appeal the decision to a tribunal with the power to reduce or reverse disciplinary actions.

That was the case with Jose Fernandez, a former Warren County Public Schools teacher who decided to appeal his termination last year.

The Daily News obtained records related to Fernandez’s tribunal hearing through an open records request to the Kentucky Department of Education. The Daily News was unable to locate Fernandez for comment on this story.

Superintendent Rob Clayton confirmed that Fernandez is no longer employed in the school district.

“Despite the difficulty of terminating an employee under the current tribunal process, we will continue to uphold the high expectations and standards of Warren County employees by pursuing termination when warranted,” Clayton said.

Fernandez’s employment was terminated after a WCPS investigation determined that Fernandez gave a student his home address and invited the student to come fight him, according to the records.

In the 2014-15 school year, Fernandez was a first-year teacher at Warren Central High School.

Records say that on Jan. 16, 2015, Fernandez took a student out of a class he was teaching for disciplinary reasons. Fernandez brought the student to a central and circular area of the annex at Warren Central High School. Another student was at a desk outside the door of the next class over in the annex taking a test. Fernandez and his student interacted, but eyewitness testimony is unclear as to what they said to each other.

The student taking a test left the desk and went to the classroom of teacher Anna Huddleston on the other side of the annex, the records said. Huddleston contacted her supervisor Chase Goff and told him that Fernandez “was arguing and threatening (the student) in the annex and that she and a teacher aide, Sarah Stanfield, heard and saw all of it.”

After investigating, the school district decided to terminate Fernandez’s employment effective Feb. 20, 2015.

Fernandez appealed the decision. A tribunal took up his case and ordered his charge of conduct unbecoming a teacher dismissed. The records said the school district had “the burden of proving by the preponderance of the evidence” the charge against Fernandez, and the tribunal found that the district failed to meet that burden.

It also reinstated him as a teacher in the district and ordered the district to pay Fernandez his full salary for a suspension period without pay.

Ultimately, Clayton said, Fernandez decided not to return as a teacher in the district.

Under KRS 161.790, teachers can appeal disciplinary actions by contacting the state’s education commissioner and the district superintendent within 10 days of receiving a charge. A hearing has to take place within 45 days after the teacher submits an appeal.

Members of tribunals are recruited from retired or current public school teachers, a retired or current school administrator and a layperson – none of whom can live in the school district where the appeal was made.

Although a hearing officer from the attorney general’s office oversees the hearing, the decision comes down to the tribunal members, who can affirm, reduce or reverse decisions.

Nancy Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, said members are trained in half-day sessions handled by the Attorney General’s Office, although sometimes KDE staff take part.

Tom Shelton, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, finds fault in the tribunal process. For Shelton, job performance and behavioral issues should be evaluated separately.

“Most of the tribunals if you look at them are not performance related,” he said, adding they can overturn disciplinary decisions that are best left up to superintendents.

He cited an example from his time as a superintendent in Daviess County where he disciplined a teacher who abandoned students without a substitute. Shelton suspended that teacher to make a point about not showing up to work.

A tribunal ultimately decided the decision was too harsh and gave the teacher a lighter punishment, he said.

“To me that is a decision they should not be able to make,” he said.

Shelton proposed a system where tribunals evaluate superintendents on a yes-or-no basis as to whether they acted according to district policy.

“We’re saying there should be a separate process for behavioral related issues,” he said.

Charles Main, a spokesman for the Kentucky Education Association, recently told the Lexington-Herald Leader the current tribunal process ensures due process for teachers in a fair and unbiased way. KEA officials did not return the Daily News’ request for comment.

— Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @aaron_muddbgdn or visit bgdailynews.com.