Fired in sex scandal, ex-Glynn school chief takes post in Kuwait

ATLANTA – A former Glynn County school superintendent fired in February for using his school system BlackBerry and e-mail address to respond to Internet ads seeking sex, is set to regain his education license next month.

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which licenses teachers and other educators in Georgia, suspended Michael Bull from working in the state for 90 days. The suspension of his education license, handed down Thursday, is retroactive to Feb. 20, the day he was fired, and ends July 7.

Bull, who lives in South Carolina, told The Brunswick News he had been willing to accept whatever decision the commission reached.

"I wasn't going to judge it one way or another," he said. "It could have been worse and it could have been better, but I accept it."

The suspension becomes part of Bull's record in Georgia.

An initial commission staff recommendation suggested suspending Bull's license for a full year of 180 teaching days. That was cut to 90 school days after Bull agreed to a consent order for the lower penalty, said Gary Walker, director of the commission's Educator Ethics Division.

Walker said Bull was suspended under an ethics code provision that bars misuse of public funds or property. Bull was not in Atlanta Thursday when the commission issued its decision.

Bull has said he plans to become superintendent of an American school in Kuwait in early August. He has said he will oversee a middle school and a high school program in Kuwait City. Each school has a principal, assistant principal and two guidance counselors, and teaches students from 52 countries, he has said.

After Bull was fired in February, the board of education appointed Assistant Superintendent Howard Mann as interim superintendent. The board voted Tuesday to name Mann the only finalist for the job. The board plans to hire him after a two-week period of public notice for finalists that's required by law.