He taught at Excelsior for 12 years, but in June of 2004 Norman Rodriguez was accused of having sex with a 14 year old student. Since then he has been on suspension and half pay, awaiting the outcome of a Supreme Court trial. That trial concluded today and after two and half hours of deliberation, the jury of 8 women and one man pronounced him not guilty of three counts of unlawful carnal knowledge. Rodriguez told us he feels like he's gotten his life back.
Norman Rodriguez, Acquitted
"I just want time to relax and try to get my life back on track. It's a good feeling because I can go to sleep now not worrying about what will happen tomorrow, the verdict is in. It's not just that I claim it; I've been vindicated now in the courts. I am innocent, that is what nine jurors have decided, by following the law of course, that I am innocent. As far as I am concerned, if I feel that somebody was after me or trying to get me, I have always been treated unfairly by some people within the management of the school and I feel this way because of the way they go about doing things. But I don't want to get into that as yet, I want to hold that back for a while. For me I just want to move, I want to get my life back together and see what I can achieve further. For me the whole fight is not over, I am going to talk to my lawyer and see what can be done.
For sure if I do go back into teaching, I am not going to be that friendly individual that many students have come to know, the person who is willing to share with them and listen to them. I am going to be, especially where female students are concerned, I'll have to just keep my distance because nobody is going to ever do this to me again. In a way I put myself up for this, I played along with their game because I allowed myself to be too friendly with the students but that's not going to happen any more."
Rodriguez hopes that he can get his job back at the new Excelsior, now a junior high school.
