He receives a five-year revocation for endorsing a teacher suspected of sexual misconduct.

Lincoln Memorial Academy's Eddie Hundley will have to step down as principal of the school he helped convert to a Manatee County charter school just last year, because of his role in helping a teacher under investigation for sexual misconduct get a job teaching in Sarasota County, according to the state Department of Education.

The state's Education Practices Commission issued a ruling on Wednesday from Tallahassee, revoking Hundley's educator's certificate for five years, issuing a $2,400 fine, five years of probation and requiring him to complete an ethics course upon return, according to Jessica Janasiewicz, a lobbyist with the Tallahassee firm Rutledge Ecenia, which sent an associate to monitor the hearing.

Manatee school district general counsel Mitch Teitelbaum sent a letter to Lincoln Memorial board Chairwoman Christine Dawson on Thursday, notifying her that according to state law, Hundley's current role as principal must end unless he succeeds in an appeal.

"Absent an appeal filed by Mr. Hundley that stays enforcement of the final order and sanctions ... Mr. Hundley cannot be employed in a position that has any direct contact with students," Teitelbaum stated.

Hundley did not return calls seeking comment. Rodney Jones, president of the Manatee NAACP, who appeared alongside him at a press conference last fall fighting against the allegations that Hundley recommended a known predator, said he wasn't surprised at the outcome.

"The white person's word is greater than the black person's word," Jones said.

Hundley wrote job recommendations for Quentin Peterson, a former Lincoln teacher who resigned from the district while under investigation for sexual misconduct with a student in Manatee. Peterson applied to be a substitute in Sarasota, and the Sarasota's district's human resources department failed to use a statewide database that flags teachers who are the current subject of an investigation. Peterson quickly landed a job as a substitute in Sarasota, administrators said, because of the district's failure to check the database and Hundley's written recommendations and verbal endorsements.

Peterson became a math teacher at Booker High School and was arrested on charges of child pornography possession last spring.

The allegations that Hundley knowingly endorsed Peterson, despite having been briefed on the investigation, were laid out in a hearing in January. Former Manatee superintendent Diana Greene, current superintendent Cynthia Saunders, Sarasota Superintendent Todd Bowden, Palmetto Police Chief Scott Tyler and Teitelbaum all presented evidence that Hundley knowingly endorsed a teacher who was suspected to have had a sexual relationship with a minor and resigned rather being fired.

Hundley defended himself, saying that teachers are subjected to false allegations and that the investigation had not concluded, so for him to give Peterson a review based on an allegation would have been unfair. However, emails between Teitelbaum and Hundley, along with testimony from Tyler, show that Hundley knew that nude images of a minor had been found on the teacher's phone and that the case was being escalated to the State Attorney's Office.

Hundley led Lincoln Memorial's conversion from a traditional public school to a charter school last year to better serve the low-income population that dominates the school. He had been frustrated by a school district that funneled students into his school who required hours of math and English remediation each week, making it impossible for students to participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities.

The revocation of Hundley's license means he will have to step down as principal of Lincoln Memorial once the state issues the final order to his case in the next few weeks, DOE officials said. However, he does have the opportunity to appeal the ruling. The Education Practices Commission, which issued the penalty, would have to grant him a stay on his punishment during his appeal, former Seminole County School District attorney Ned Julian said.