PSC Confirms Open Ethics Case Against County Commission Candidate Tim Ryan

Coweta Schools say records from educator investigations are routinely shared with the state agency; Ryan is not approved as a substitute teacher in Coweta County Schools.

Coweta County Commission candidate Timothy Patrick Ryan is the subject of an open ethics case with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, according to the agency, which declined further comment because the matter remains under review.

The confirmation comes after a series of The Citizen reports detailing concerns raised by students, parents, teachers, and school officials regarding Ryan’s conduct as an educator, as well as recent revelations that he failed to disclose a brief period of employment with Atlanta Public Schools on his Coweta County School System employment application, as required to do and attested by his signature on threat of losing his job.

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission, commonly known as the PSC, oversees educator certification and educator ethics in Georgia. The agency maintains records of teacher certifications and investigates allegations that certified educators may have violated the state’s Code of Professional Ethics.

When contacted by The Citizen, a PSC representative confirmed by phone that there is an open ethics case involving Timothy Patrick Ryan. The agency would not discuss the allegations under review, who initiated the complaint, or potential outcomes while the case remains active. The representative also stated that open records requests do not apply to pending ethics investigations.

The open ethics case follows reporting by The Citizen on Ryan’s 152-page Coweta County personnel file, which documented repeated complaints from students, parents, teachers, and administrators during his time at Madras Middle School and Smokey Road Middle School. The file included allegations of inappropriate classroom comments, boundary issues with students, written notes to students, restrictions on Ryan’s contact with certain students, and a sheriff’s office investigation after a student attempted suicide and listed “Mr. Ryan” among her reasons.

In one documented incident, records show Ryan took a crying female student into a supply closet and told her that if it were him, he “would date her over another girl.” Records also show Ryan later referenced the word “pedophile” in class in a joking manner. In another set of complaints, 13 student statements and a teacher corroborated that Ryan made sexual comments during class.

Former students and parents later told The Citizen that the records did not capture the full impact of Ryan’s conduct. They described students crying in class, feeling humiliated, being made uncomfortable by comments and physical proximity, and families eventually removing children from school because they no longer felt safe.

Questions about the PSC process have surfaced repeatedly as readers have followed Ryan’s campaign for the District 3 seat on the Coweta County Commission. Some questioned whether the absence of criminal charges meant there could be no ethical violations.

Coweta County School System spokesman Dean Jackson said educator ethics investigations are separate from the criminal justice system.

“That’s right, not necessarily,” Jackson said when asked whether PSC matters require police involvement. “It may be things that involve either a law enforcement investigation, or obviously criminal charges, if that’s the case, but it might include many things that are not so.”

Jackson explained that the PSC serves as Georgia’s authority over educator certification and ethical conduct.

“There is a code of conduct associated with the PSC, and if a teacher has violated that code of conduct, or if there have been questions about a teacher ethics issue that they’ve investigated, they would have record of that,” Jackson said.

According to Jackson, local school systems routinely notify the PSC when they conduct investigations involving certified educators.

“If we had an investigation within the school system, whether it involves law enforcement or not, that we had to investigate an educator over an ethical breach, we would communicate our investigation and any conclusions of our investigation to the Professional Standards Commission and recommend their own investigation,” Jackson said.

Jackson said Coweta routinely communicates educator investigations and findings to the PSC and confirmed that records such as Ryan’s personnel file would have been shared with the agency.

“Yes, anything like that would have been shared with the PSC,” Jackson said when asked whether records such as Ryan’s personnel file had been provided.

Jackson also said the recent disclosure that Ryan omitted his Atlanta Public Schools employment from his Coweta application was the type of information Coweta would communicate to the PSC.

Asked specifically whether that information would be reported, Jackson responded, “Yes, that sort of thing. Absolutely, would be communicated with the PSC.”

As part of its reporting, The Citizen also asked whether Ryan currently serves as a substitute teacher in Coweta County Schools.

“He is not in our substitute system, nor has he been approved for our substitute system,” Jackson said.

Jackson also addressed questions about a letter Ryan received when he left the Coweta County School System. Some readers had characterized the document as a recommendation letter.

Jackson disagreed with that description, saying the document addressed Ryan’s classroom performance and demeanor but was not a formal recommendation sent to another employer.

“I don’t know if I’m splitting hairs here, but it really wouldn’t be a recommendation letter,” Jackson said. “A recommendation would be if another school system, for example, had contacted us and asked us for their specific recommendations.”

Jackson said that when another school system requests information about a former employee, Coweta provides a broader picture of the individual’s employment history and conduct.

The PSC has authority to impose a range of sanctions on certified educators, including suspension or revocation of teaching certification. Jackson emphasized that he was not commenting on any specific case but acknowledged that loss of certification is among the potential consequences available through the PSC process.

The open ethics case is the latest development in a series of reports involving Ryan’s educational career. Earlier reporting by The Citizen documented complaints from former students and parents, personnel records from multiple school districts, and Coweta Superintendent Dr. Evan Horton’s recent statement that Ryan failed to disclose his employment with Atlanta Public Schools when applying for a position in Coweta.

Jackson noted that Coweta’s employment application requires applicants to fully disclose their educational employment history.

“We ask for a whole picture of a person’s educational career,” Jackson said. “That is something that we expect of all [applicants], that a person’s employment history, particularly their school employment history, be fully divulged to the school system.”

The Citizen submitted additional questions to the PSC seeking information about the agency’s procedures and typical timelines for resolving ethics investigations. The agency did not respond before publication.