School District Places Teitelbaum on Administrative Leave
Posted
Staff Report
BRADENTON – On Friday, the School District of Manatee County confirmed that the district's in-house legal counsel, Mitchell Teitelbaum, had been placed on administrative leave the day before. After accepting a job as a deputy county administrator with Manatee County, Teitelbaum had requested that his previously-tendered resignation be tabled by the district after a county employee filed a complaint against him, alleging inappropriate and uninvited touching.
The allegation was said to have occurred on Nov. 29, the very same day that Teitelbaum was confirmed unanimously by the BOCC and before he had even begun his official duties. The story came to light after county public records manager Debbie Scaccianoce was walked out of the administration building and put on administrative leave on Dec. 13. Sources within the county told TBT that the move may have been retaliatory, as Scaccianoce was the employee's supervisor and had assisted her in filing the complaint after she had been unsuccessful in efforts to report the issue through the county HR department.
TBT also learned that the employee who made the complaint had been transferred from the administration building to a position at another county facility. Our publication requested comment from County Administrator Scott Hopes on both the state of Teitelbaum's employment and any investigation into the allegations on Dec. 14. We did not receive a response, however, both Scaccianoce and the employee who had made the allegations were notified the very same evening that they were to return to their positions at the county administration building the next morning.
The Manatee School Board unanimously approved Teitelbaum's request to table his resignation without discussion, although it is not clear whether the board or district officials were aware of the allegations made against him at the time. Teitelbaum had previously been accused of both inappropriate touching and comments while at the school district.
Initially, a female reporter from the Herald Tribune made a complaint to her editor regarding ways in which she was made to feel uncomfortable by Teitelbaum. That complaint was investigated by the paper, and, during the course of that investigation, a male reporter conveyed that Teitelbaum had "overshared," offered to allow him to stay over at his house if evening school board meetings he was covering were to run late, and once slipped a note into the pocket of the reporter's trousers, making him feel uncomfortable.
After an investigation into the matter by the school board's attorney determined that the district had no jurisdiction over a complaint made by an employee of an outside organization, Teitelbaum was given a "memorandum of conference" from Superintendent Cynthia Saunders that was placed in his school district personnel file. Teitelbaum was also required to undergo sensitivity/sexual harassment in the workplace training and to conduct himself in a professional manner going forward.
The district is presumably waiting for the county to announce the results of an investigation into the allegations, however, it does not appear that one has been undertaken. On Jan. 3, TBT again attempted to confirm whether an investigation had been initiated into the complaint against Teitelbaum, but again received no response from the county.
Since the school district would seemingly have no ability to investigate allegations that were said to have occurred within an outside organization, it is unclear how the situation will unfold. For his part, Teitelbaum has denied the allegations and said that he welcomes an outside investigation into the alleged incident.
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