Principal Who Clashed With Student Is Fired After Inquiry

He did not return calls seeking comment after his firing was announced.

His attorney, G. Allen Dale, said he did not know of the firing before being informed by a reporter. "I am totally shocked that he would be terminated, absolutely shocked that he would be terminated," Dale said last night. "We'll regroup tomorrow when, I assume, we'll get notification of it."

Roy said he wasn't surprised that Hearn was fired. "He broke a rule. No faculty member is allowed to have corporal punishment against students," Roy said.

White said Interim Principal Willie Lamb will continue at the school until another principal has been appointed.

Hearn had remained on administrative leave with pay since the October arrest. Hearn is also facing a $500,000 civil suit filed by Holsey's family. The incident with Holsey occurred as Hearn tried to disperse students who were watching a fight, police and witnesses said. Hearn allegedly grabbed a student, and Holsey allegedly jumped on Hearn to defend a schoolmate.

Hearn, a former Marine, received a doctorate in educational leadership with a concentration in multicultural and urban affairs from the University of Sarasota. He received his undergraduate degree in English literature.

Hearn had been an assistant principal at Annandale and Madison high schools in Fairfax County. Aside from a brief stint overseeing a summer school program in Virginia, he had not worked as a principal before being appointed head of Eastern. Hearn was Eastern's eighth principal since 1997.

Earlier in the day, before Hearn's dismissal, Janey defended Hearn's hiring but added that the school system had hired 32 other principals last year.

"It's a very different experience you have when you're reviewing candidates and what you see in an application and what they knew and then what dispositions they display once they're on the job," Janey said. "There's no perfect test or assessment that would give you 100 percent assurance in any employee category."