MANATEE COUNTY — A Manatee County teacher resigned and is under investigation by the Manatee Sheriff's Office after a 5th-grade female student's parents discovered a disturbing letter from the educator to their daughter.
School district officials state that the letter was reported on March 9 and that the teacher was reassigned to a non-instructional position the following day. At that point, the teacher submitted their resignation, which was approved by the board at Tuesday's meeting, following lengthy debate.
The district has faced past criticism that decisions to allow employees to resign when they should be terminated may make it more likely for the educator to continue working in the field elsewhere.
In the letter, as reported by WFLA News Channel 8, the teacher tells the student that he loves her, accuses her of lying to him, and instructs her not to show the letter to anyone else.
The mother, Ann Mitchell, gave passionate public comment at Tuesday's meeting (video below), describing a litany of unethical behavior by the teacher, including air-dropping photos from students' phones to his without their permission and video recording her daughter while she was running at recess.
Mitchell said a guardian at the school flagged a video showing the teacher taking her daughter into a room for 45 minutes on Valentine's Day, while the rest of the class was at the library. She stated that no one from the school district had informed her of the incident. Mrs. Mitchell's father and another student's mother also chastised the board for not doing more to step in sooner when such red flags presented themselves.
Superintendent Jason Wysong recommended that the board accept the resignation.
"I'm not going to comment on the specific matter because there are open investigations and it is a guiding principle here that the school district does nothing to interfere with external agency investigations, nothing that might compromise the integrity of an external investigation," said Wysong.
Wysong added that such resignations were noted as "while under investigation."
School District General Counsel Kevin Pendley said he concurred with Wysong, explaining that the state statute requires it be handled that way, but that such resignations were reported the same as a termination for purposes of flagging that employee's educational certificate.
"You end up with the same result, either road you take to get there," Pendley told board members. "It's just a much longer one if you go the termination route, because we have to follow due process procedures for that. If an employee resigns, we are able to do it more efficiently and get that report to the Department of Education sooner. That's the difference."
The vote passed 4-1, with board member Cindy Spray dissenting.
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WTF
What a flimsy excuse if you terminate someone it takes longer, who cares it’s the right thing to do. Because on his future applications, I’m sure there’s a job question that says have you ever been terminated from an educational position under this release he can say no. In addition if he resign, he’s probably entitled to employee benefits, including unemployment so at the end we have to pay for as bad behavior as well. Thank you, Cindy for standing up to your moral decision and shame on the rest of the board. If it was their daughter, I’m sure they would’ve voted a different way… let that sink in
Friday, May 2 Report this
gatorheel
@WTF from the article it sounds like resigned vs terminated doesn't matter and you're making a lot assumptions about the effective difference between the two. Specifically: "School District General Counsel Kevin Pendley said ... such resignations were reported the same as a termination for purposes of flagging that employee's educational certificate."
I do know that resignations are effective immediately and terminations require a specific process which can be fast but are always longer than "immediately."
It also sounds like the resignation is accepted as as preliminary matter, "Wysong added that such resignations were noted as 'while under investigation.'" Meaning: they can accept the resignation now but still take action as a result of the investigation.
Friday, May 2 Report this