In Department of Education v. Oxford Area School District, 24 Pa. Commw. 421, 356 A.2d 857 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1976), a school superintendent investigated a teacher's involvement in a shoplifting incident, and, based upon the superintendent's recommendation, the school board decided to proceed with charges of incompetency against the teacher. At the dismissal hearing, the superintendent testified as an adverse witness against the teacher and, thereafter, participated in the board's deliberations and its rendering of an ultimate decision to dismiss the teacher. The Court concluded that the superintendent's actions did not reasonably safeguard the teacher's statutory right to an impartial and unbiased decision. However, we specifically emphasized "that it is the Superintendent's role as an adverse witness that is crucial to this case; the fact that he initially investigated the shoplifting incident and recommended a hearing is not, in our view, sufficient to indicate any bias that would render his participation in the adjudicatory phase objectionable." Id. at 861.