Nashville public schools Director Shawn Joseph's educator license is under review by Tennessee's state education board after he failed to report numerous teacher misconduct cases.

The Tennessee State Board of Education action doesn't mean a formal sanction against the Metro Nashville Public Schools superintendent will take place, only that the state board is considering whether punishment against him is warranted.

Joseph was notified of the review late Wednesday afternoon in an email, which didn't list the reasoning. A state board spokeswoman on Thursday confirmed it is due to Joseph's lack of reporting misconduct cases to the educator licensing authority.

Read more on Nashville schools:Divided school board will review Joseph's job performance in coming weeks

On Thursday, Joseph said he is committed to resolving any issues. Nashville public schools spokeswoman Dawn Rutledge said the district is working closely with the state board to address any concerns.

In the 2017-18 school year, Joseph reported only one educator misconduct case despite 19 educators being suspended, fired or resigning after district investigations, an August USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee review of district human resources investigations found. Two other teachers were recommended for review of termination by Metro Legal, according to the list.

First test for state law

By law, superintendents are required to report certain educator misconduct to the state when an employee is suspended, terminated or resigns.

Joseph's case is the second case of a superintendent to report teacher cases in recent years.

The first case involved Union County's superintendent in 2017, meaning the state board's review Joseph's case will be the first test of a law that went into effect in July, which allows the board to punish superintendents who fail to report teacher's misdeeds.

In response to the August USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee report, Rutledge said the district found that "a handful of cases which should have been reported to the state were not properly reported."

Rutledge also said an ex-employee did not create the paperwork necessary for Joseph to report the cases.

The state board in September began to look over those cases to determine whether Joseph complied with state law.

"After reviewing the cases from Metro Nashville Public Schools, the State Board of Education determined that some of these backlog cases occurred outside of the required thirty-day reporting window," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Tullos. "To date, no

action has been taken against Dr. Joseph’s educator license."

If the board takes action, it has the ability to reprimand, suspend, revoke or refuse to issue a teaching license to an educator.

It's unclear what that would mean for Joseph.

Tennessee superintendents aren't required to hold an educator license, only a bachelor's degree.

Joseph already under fire

The review comes at a time when Joseph's leadership of the district is in the spotlight.

This week, a Nashville school board member Jill Speering encouraged those opposed to Joseph's leadership show up to a board meeting wearing masks if they feared retaliation. Two other board members — Amy Frogge and Fran Bush — also say it is time for new leadership.

Speering, who says her comments were taken out of context, said she wants new leadership and has problems with sexual harassment complaints from staffers, sexual violence lawsuits filed by students, and cronyism under Joseph, among other issues.

Other board members remain confident in Joseph's leadership and the director's supporters rallied behind him this week.

► TEACHER MISCONDUCT CASES: District blames ex-employee for Nashville schools' failure to report teacher-misconduct cases

► POSSIBLE OUTCOMES: What is the punishment if a Tennessee superintendent fails to report educator misconduct?

Reach Jason Gonzales at jagonzales@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.