Steve White says he is the “scapegoat” in what he called a political plot that got him fired from his teaching job because graphic obscene materials were found on his classroom computer.

“They made a scapegoat out of me,” White said Tuesday from his home. “They have been after me for years. This was the right time to do it.”

White said he was referring to Limestone County Superintendent Dr. Barry Carroll, members of the current Limestone County Board of Education, former Limestone Superintendent Les Bivens and a previous board. White said these people labeled him “big trouble because I stood up for the teachers” in his job as president of the Limestone County Education Association and was working to have the superintendent of schools elected rather than appointed.

An arbitrator who heard White’s appeal, Joe Battle, on Monday upheld the decision of the school board to fire White after some of his eighth grade students testified he showed them video clips containing animated sex acts and other obscene material. Other students testified they did not see the clips.

White, who was Alabama’s Teacher of the Year in 1993, may also lose his teaching certificate. A hearing before Alabama Superintendent Joe Morton is scheduled Sept. 6 in Montgomery.

“I never showed anything I thought was obscene,” White said. “But it bothers me that this has been blown up so much that it makes me sound like a pervert.”

White said the ordeal has been hard on his family.

“I’m trying to hold my head high because I don’t feel guilty,” he said. “It may have been a lack of good judgment, but what’s wrong with a little humor every once and a while?

“I never dreamed as computer illiterate as I am that this could get me in trouble. All I ever did was open e-mails that came to me from other people.”

White’s account differs from testimony of some students who said they repeatedly were called to White’s desk to watch clips on his computer and could describe them in their entirety.

White said since he has been removed from his job at West Limestone High School he has applied for a number of other jobs including the Tennessee Valley Authority, where he worked prior to joining the county school system 10 years ago.

“It’s politics,” he said of his firing. “It’s Bob Riley. It’s Joe Morton. It’s the Republican Party. They all wanted me fired. Why, even some of the local Republican Party members were there rallying the night of the hearing to get me fired.”

White, a Democrat who is seeking a state House of Representative seat that represents portions of Limestone and Morgan counties, believes “some people” were out to get him because last year he questioned what he called unfair hiring practices in the county school system.

He said he questioned why he was being overlooked for county administrative positions when he was well qualified with four master’s degrees.

According to Battle’s 36-page ruling in White’s case, White “has applied for 25 to 30 other jobs in the school system to no avail.”

White said the school system does not adequately prepare teachers for classroom computer use.

“We have not been properly trained (on computers) and we don’t have adequate filtering systems for our classroom computers,” he said. “We have none of this in the county and it really never was emphasized that much. This can happen to anyone.”

White believes he should have been reprimanded and suspended without pay, but not fired.

“I was told by the AEA that if this had happened in Birmingham that I would have gotten a three-day suspension. They said if it had occurred in another state then all I would have gotten was my hand slapped.”

He denies ever downloading porn from his computer.

“I made it clear I’ve never looked at porn at my home or at school. I know they monitor my computer. Why would I?”

He said two freshmen aides who worked in his classroom admitted they downloaded porn on to his computer at school.

“I had nothing to do with any porn. I admitted to the judge that I showed some humorous e-mails that I received, including some from teachers and even lawyers. “But I never showed anything I thought was obscene — No “F” words, no nudity, no sexual bondage. None of this has ever been on my computer by me.”

In Battle’s report, he said he did not consider the pornography found on White’s computer when making his ruling because students admitted putting it there. Instead, he considered evidence that White had shown video clips that were “harmful to minors,” including graphic images of sex acts between an animated Bill and Hillary Clinton, and violated the school board’s policy on computer use, which all county teachers with computers were required to sign.

White said if he could change things, he would not have Internet access on his computer.

“I signed for the Internet access, but I did not read the policy,” he said. “Anybody can violate policy. It is being violated daily in our schools.”

White says he will not appeal his case to a higher court because his attorneys have advised “it would be a waste of time.”

He said he is also considering withdrawing from the House race.