WBRZ - Baton Rouge

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - School officials say the wife of the ex-convict who held a Florida school board at gunpoint had been fired from her job as a teacher.

Bay District personnel director Tommye Lou Richardson says Rebecca Crowder-Duke was fired in February.

The district hired her in September 2009 to teach students with special needs, but didn't
pass probation.

Richardson says Crowder-Duke had questioned her termination but never filed a lawsuit.

She couldn't specify why the woman was fired.

Reporters were asked to leave the house where Crowder-Duke is believed to be living.

Clay Duke complained about his wife being fired by the district before shooting at close range.

He exchanged gunfire with the district's security chief before fatally shooting himself.