The Issue The issues to be determined are whether Respondent, Trudy M. Benson, violated section 1012.795(1)(j), Florida Statutes, and Florida Administrative Code Rules 6A-10.081(2)(a)1. and/or 6A-10.081(2)(a)5., as charged in the Administrative Complaint; and, if so, what disciplinary penalty should be imposed.
Findings Of Fact Based upon the credibility of the witnesses and evidence presented at the final hearing and on the entire record of this proceeding, the following Findings of Fact are made: Background At the time of the allegations in the Administrative Complaint, Respondent held Florida Educator’s Certificate 868131, covering the areas of elementary education and exceptional student education (ESE), which was valid through June 30, 2019. The Commissioner is the head of the state agency, the Florida Department of Education, responsible for investigating and prosecuting allegations of misconduct against individuals holding Florida educator certificates. Upon a finding of probable cause, Petitioner is then responsible for filing a formal complaint and prosecuting the complaint pursuant to chapter 120, Florida Statutes, if the educator disputes the allegations in the complaint. At all times pertinent hereto, Respondent was employed as a fourth grade teacher at Suwannee Intermediate School (SIS), a fourth and fifth grade intermediate school, in the Suwannee County School District (SCSD). Respondent began her teaching career with the SCSD during the 2016/2017 school year at Suwannee Middle School as an ESE teacher. For the 2018/2019 school year, Respondent was transferred to SIS where she taught fourth grade math and science. Respondent received two consecutive Highly Effective Evaluations as an ESE teacher, from two different principals in her first and second years teaching in the public school system. Respondent also offered in evidence letters of recommendation from both principals, Jerry Jolicoeur and Jimmy Wilkerson, the superintendent, Mr. Roush, and a newly retired veteran ESE teacher, Ms. Candy Vickers; a letter of praise from ESE director Elizabeth Simpson; and a letter of Ms. Benson's major accomplishments as both an ESE volunteer and ESE teacher. Respondent had not been the subject of any previous complaints or disciplinary actions during her period of employment and by all accounts was a very successful ESE teacher. Leigh Fountain was also a fourth-grade teacher at SIS. She taught reading and language arts. Respondent and Ms. Fountain had a combined total of 49 students and taught in adjoining classrooms. One class of students would be with Respondent in the morning, while the other class was with Ms. Fountain. They would then switch students for the second part of the day. Whoever had the students at the beginning of the day was the students’ homeroom teacher. Ms. Fountain had student N.C. at the beginning of the day and was therefore N.C.’s homeroom teacher. Toward the end of the school day, N.C. and his classmates would return to their homeroom teacher, Ms. Fountain. The Events of October 29 and 30, 2018 On October 29, 2018, N.C. was at home attempting to do math homework assigned by Respondent. N.C.’s older sister was assisting him. She thought the homework was a little difficult for a fourth grader. She asked their mother if she could write a note to Respondent regarding the difficulty of the homework. Their mother, Mrs. W., said yes. The note stated “Don’t you think this is a little advanced for fourth grade.” The note was written in a “bubble cloud” on the worksheet next to the math problem. On October 30, 2018, N.C. was in Respondent’s class along with 21 or more other students. This was a difficult class for Respondent to manage because of the behavior issues, disciplinary issues, and ESE issues. Respondent considered N.C. as one of the students who contributed to disruption in the classroom. Respondent asked the students to pass their math homework forward. N.C. came up to Respondent with his homework and told her “there’s a note from my mother you need to read.” Respondent told N.C., “I will read it later when I have a moment when we’re done with the lesson.” N.C. insisted that Respondent read the letter. Respondent read the note “out loud to myself.” The note stated that the homework was a bit difficult for 4th graders or too difficult for 4th graders. Respondent then told N.C. “Well, maybe we should write your mom a note and let her know that even though these might be a little difficult, that you’re up for the challenge and that we think you can handle it.” Though not directed to the class, Respondent’s statement could have been loud enough for some of the students (five to ten) in the classroom to hear her. What occurred next is at the heart of this dispute. According to the Material Allegations set forth in the Administrative Complaint: During October of the 2018-2019 school year, Respondent engaged in inappropriate conduct when she instructed her fourth grade class to write letters to the parent of N.C., a fourth grade student in her class. The purpose of the letters was to explain that an assignment N.C.’s parent had complained about being too difficult, was not actually difficult. N.C. was embarrassed by the assignment. (emphasis added). Thus, according to Petitioner, Respondent instructed her students to write letters to N.C.’s parent regarding the homework. To support this allegation, Petitioner called as witnesses several of the students who had been in class that day. Petitioner also introduced in evidence six of the students’ written accounts of the events of October 30, 2018, obtained by its investigator, Randy Kosec, Jr. Neither the testimony of the students at hearing, nor their written statements, persuasively corroborate Petitioner’s version of the events that transpired that day. The Testimony of the Students N.C. was the first of the students to testify. On direct examination N.C. testified that when he gave his homework sheet to Respondent “She said to everyone, don’t you think this---she thinks y’all are a little---my mom thinks you all are stupid.” He further testified that after making this statement, Respondent told the students to write a letter to his mother, and then made N.C. “sit in the back at this little circle table while the kids asked me questions.” N.C. further testified on direct examination that Respondent put his homework sheet under a projector in order to show all of the other students what was written there. On cross examination N.C. conceded that after reading the note on N.C.’s homework, Respondent told him that “maybe we should write your mom a note and let her know that it is a little challenging, but we think you are up for it.” N.C. also confirmed that while Respondent was discussing the note with N.C. at the front of the classroom, another student, A.P., jumped up saying “yeah, let’s do that, let’s write her a letter.” After that, several other students chimed in and said, “yeah, let’s do it.” This version of events was corroborated by students D.P. and A.P., including the statement by A.P. that Respondent was having a conversation with N.C. only, and was not addressing the class. The written account of student A.G. includes the statement “I don’t remember writing a letter to anybody about the homework.” The written account of student A.J. includes the statement “I didn’t have to right [sic] any letter to a parent.” The written account of student J.P. includes the statement “I never have to write a letter to anyone [sic] parent.” The written account of student A.P. includes the statement that “One day she told us to write a letter to [N.C.’s] mom about my class because he and his mom said the homework [was too] easy so we all wrote letters to his mom and he took them home that day.” However, on cross-examination at hearing A.P. agreed that Respondent did not tell the class to write a letter. She was also emphatic that N.C. took the letters home with him that day because “I remember him stuffing all of them—trying to fit them into his bookbag.” Neither the written accounts of the students, nor their testimony at hearing, credibly support a finding that Respondent instructed her fourth grade class to write letters to N.C.’s parent about the homework assignment. To the contrary, the students’ testimony is conflicting and self-contradictory in many instances. By this, the undersigned does not mean to suggest that the students were intentionally being untruthful in their testimony, but rather that the precise events of that day, nearly two years earlier, had become vague in their memories. More significantly, the written accounts recorded by Investigator Kosec approximately seven months after the day in question, do not support a finding that the students were instructed to write letters to N.C.’s mom, since three of the six written accounts state that the students did not write such a letter. At hearing, Respondent credibly testified that she never instructed her fourth grade class to write letters to N.C.’s mother, as follows: I never assigned this to the students to do. I never told the students to write a letter. It was not my job for the students to write assignments. As I told Ms. Fountain and as she testified, I had never given them a writing assignment prior. Why on earth would I give them a writing assignment now? The credible evidence of record establishes that some of the students overheard Respondent’s conversation with N.C. and took it upon themselves to write a letter to N.C.’s mother. Respondent told the students “if you are going to write a letter, it needs to be respectful and polite.” While N.C. was still in front of Respondent, some of the students jumped up for paper. Others pulled out paper. It was a “hectic situation.” Some of the students wrote letters to N.C.’s mother. After the students wrote the letters, Respondent retrieved the letters. There were about ten letters. Respondent allowed the students 2 - 3 minutes to write the letters. After the students wrote the letters, N.C. went back to his seat. After the class, Respondent had a planning period. Respondent called and spoke with N.C.’s mother by telephone. Respondent “explained to her what had taken place.” N.C.’s mother was angry. Respondent shredded the letters at the end of the school day. As to why Respondent even permitted the students to write the letters, Respondent cited to the Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession in Florida, which provides in part that Florida educators “Shall not unreasonably restrain a student from independent action in pursuit of learning.” Fla. Admin. Code R. 6A-10.081(2)(a)2. According to Respondent, she was attempting to avoid violating this provision when she allowed some of the students to write letters. As Respondent testified at hearing: They overheard a conversation I was having with a student who insisted I read the note and insisted on a response, and they took it upon themselves to say, yes, let’s write her a letter. It is not for the undersigned to determine whether Respondent did, or did not, exercise good judgment in allowing some of the students to write letters to N.C.’s mother. Rather, it is the undersigned’s task to determine whether the Material Allegations set forth in the Administrative Complaint have been proven by clear and convincing evidence in this record. Based upon the competent substantial evidence of record, the undersigned finds that Petitioner has failed to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, the sole material allegation of the Administrative Complaint, to wit, that Respondent engaged in inappropriate conduct when she instructed her fourth grade class to write letters to the parent of N.C., a fourth grade student in her class. Rather, the evidence clearly and convincingly established that no such instruction was ever given by Respondent to her students.
Recommendation Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the undersigned hereby RECOMMENDS that the Education Practices Commission enter a final order dismissing the Administrative Complaint against Respondent. DONE AND ENTERED this 20th day of October, 2020, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S W. DAVID WATKINS Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 20th day of October, 2020. COPIES FURNISHED: Trudy Benson 19378 County Road 250 Live Oak, Florida 32060 (eServed) Ron Weaver, Esquire Post Office Box 770088 Ocala, Florida 34477-0088 (eServed) Lisa M. Forbess, Interim Executive Director Education Practices Commission Department of Education Turlington Building, Suite 316 325 West Gaines Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400 (eServed) Matthew Mears, General Counsel Department of Education Turlington Building, Suite 1244 325 West Gaines Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400 (eServed) Randy Kosec, Jr., Chief Office of Professional Practices Services Department of Education Turlington Building, Suite 224-E 325 West Gaines Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400 (eServed)
The Issue The issue for determination is whether Respondent should be suspended, without pay and benefits, and terminated from employment with Petitioner for the offenses set forth in the Amended Administrative Complaint.
Findings Of Fact Ms. Maynard has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education (K-6) and a Master of Arts degree in Teaching (Special Education). Her prior teaching experience includes teaching in the United States, Korea, and Japan. Ms. Maynard began her employment with the School Board as a substitute teacher. She was a substitute teacher for approximately six years. In the Summer of 2004, Ms. Maynard was hired to teach at the Pompano Beach Elementary School (Pompano Beach Elementary). However, Pompano Beach Elementary had over-hired, and she was surplused-out to Cypress Elementary School (Cypress Elementary). For the 2004-2005 school year, Ms. Maynard began at Cypress Elementary as a kindergarten teacher. For the 2005-2006 school year, Ms. Maynard was reassigned as an elementary teacher at Cypress Elementary. The parties agree that the relevant time period in the instant case is the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years. No dispute exists that, at all times material hereto, Ms. Maynard was an instructional employee, a third grade teacher, with the School Board at Cypress Elementary. On April 7, 2006, Ms. Maynard received a written reprimand from Cypress Elementary's Assistant principal, Barbara Castiglione (now, Barbara Castiglione-Rothman). The basis for the disciplinary action was Ms. Maynard's failure, twice, to comply with a directive from Ms. Castiglione--Ms. Maynard was requested to report to an academic meeting with Ms. Castiglione. Among other things, Ms. Maynard was advised that her failure to perform to the standards established for the effective and productive performance of her job duties would result in further disciplinary action up to and including a recommendation for termination of employment. A copy of the written reprimand was provided to Ms. Maynard. Ms. Maynard contended that she was not refusing to attend the meetings but wanted to meet with Ms. Castiglione when a witness of her own choosing could attend. Ms. Maynard wanted a witness to be present at the meetings because she viewed the meetings as disciplinary meetings even though Ms. Castiglione indicated that the meetings were not disciplinary meetings. Additionally, on April 7, 2006, Ms. Maynard made a written request for a transfer from Cypress Elementary. The type of transfer requested by Ms. Maynard was "Regular."2 Cypress Elementary's principal, Louise Portman, signed the request. The principal's signature, as well as the requester's signature, was required. No transfer occurred. PMPs During the 2006-2007 School Year Through School Board policy, implementing a Legislative mandate, all teachers at Cypress Elementary were required to develop an individualized progress monitoring plan (PMP) for each student, who was deficient in reading, in consultation with the student's parent(s). Data for the PMP were collected through reading assessments at the beginning of the school year to establish a student's reading level. The appropriate reading program for the student would be decided upon using the data. Also, who was going to teach the reading program would be decided. The PMP, among other things, identified the student's reading deficiency and set forth the plan to remediate the deficiency and enhance the student's achievement in reading, which included the proposed supplemental instruction services that would be provided to the student. PMPs were generated usually two to three weeks after the beginning of the school year. A copy of the PMP was provided to the student's parent(s). The PMP was referred to as a "living, fluid document." It was not unusual for PMPs to reflect interventions not being used at the time, i.e., it was permissible for PMPs to reflect interventions that were to be used during the school year. Further, the wording current on a PMP referred to interventions during the current school year, not necessarily at that time. PMPs were modified throughout the school year on an as needed basis depending upon a student's progress. On or about September 29, 2006, Ms. Portman advised Ms. Maynard that Ms. Maynard's PMPs must be deleted because the interventions listed on the PMPs were not on the Struggling Readers Chart and were, therefore, invalid. The Struggling Readers Chart was developed by the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and contained interventions approved by DOE. Cypress Elementary had a Reading Coach, Jennifer Murphins. Ms. Murphins advised Ms. Maynard that, in order to delete the PMPs, a list of the students, who were on the PMPs, was needed so that Ms. Murphins could provide the names to the person in the school district who was authorized to delete the PMPs. Further, Ms. Murphins advised Ms. Maynard that, once the PMPs were deleted, Ms. Maynard could input valid interventions for the students. The School Board's Curriculum Administrator, Mark Quintana, Ph.D., was the person who was designated to delete PMPs. It was not unusual for Dr. Quintana to receive a telephone call from a school to delete information from PMPs-- the request must originate from the school. Ms. Maynard resisted the deletion of the PMPs and refused to delete them time and time again. She suggested, instead, not deleting the PMPs, but preparing updated PMPs and sending both to the students' parents. Her belief was that she could not put proposed interventions on the PMPs, but that she was required to only include interventions that were actually being used with the students at the time. Even though Ms. Maynard was advised by Ms. Portman that proposed interventions could be included on PMPs, Ms. Maynard still refused to provide Ms. Murphins with the list of the students. Furthermore, Ms. Maynard insisted that including interventions not yet provided, but to be provided, on the PMPs was contrary to Florida's Meta Consent Agreement. She had not read the Meta Consent Agreement and was unable to provide Ms. Portman with a provision of the Meta Consent Agreement that supported a contradiction. Ms. Portman directed Ms. Murphins to contact Dr. Quintana to delete the PMPs for Ms. Maynard's students. Ms. Murphins did as she was directed. The PMPs were deleted. On or about October 5, 2006, Ms. Maynard notified Ms. Portman by email that a complaint against Ms. Portman was filed by her with DOE regarding, among other things, the changing of the PMPs and the denying to her students equal access to the reading curriculum and trained professionals. On or about October 30, 2006, Ms. Castiglione sent a directive by email to all teachers regarding, among other things, placing PMPs and letters to parents in the students' report card envelopes. Ms. Maynard refused to comply with Ms. Castiglione's directive because, among other things, the students' PMPs for Ms. Maynard had been deleted and to rewrite the PMPs with interventions that were not actually used by the students was considered falsifying legal documents by Ms. Maynard. On or about October 31, 2006, Ms. Portman directed Ms. Maynard to rewrite the PMPs. Ms. Maynard continued to refuse to obey Ms. Portman's directive. Around November 2006, Ms. Maynard lodged "concerns" about Ms. Portman with the School Board's North Area Superintendent, Joanne Harrison, Ed.D., regarding the PMPs and the instruction of English Language Learners (ELL). Dr. Harrison requested Dr. Quintana and Sayra Hughes, Executive Director of Bilingual/Foreign Language/ESOL Education, to investigate the matter. Dr. Quintana investigated and prepared the report on the PMP concerns, which included findings by Dr. Quintana as to Ms. Maynard's concerns. Ms. Hughes investigated and prepared the report on the ELL concerns, which included findings by Ms. Hughes as to Ms. Maynard's concerns. Dr. Harrison provided a copy of both reports to Ms. Maynard. Included in the findings by Dr. Quintana were: (a) that a school's administration requesting the deletion of PMPs was appropriate; (b) that PMPs are intended to document support programming that was to occur during the school year; (c) that including a support program that was not initially implemented, but is currently being implemented, is appropriate; and (d) that the School Board should consider revising the parents' letter as to using the term "current" in that current could be interpreted to mean the present time. Also, included in the findings by Dr. Quintana were: (a) the principal's direction to the teachers, as to the deadline for sending PMPs home by the first quarter report card, was equivalent to the School Board's deadline for sending PMPs home; (b) teacher signatures were not required on PMPs; (c) the principal has discretion as to whether to authorize the sending home of additional PMPs and, with the principal's consent, PMPs can be modified and sent home at any time throughout the school year; and (d) Ms. Maynard completed all of her students' PMPs. Ms. Maynard's concerns regarding ELLS were that Ms. Portman was denying ELLs equal access and had inappropriately adjusted Individual Reading Inventories (IRI) scores of ELLs. Ms. Hughes found that Ms. Maynard only had allegations or claims, but no documentation to substantiate the allegations or claims. As a result, Ms. Hughes concluded that Ms. Portman had committed no violations. As a result of the investigation by Dr. Quintana and Ms. Hughes, Dr. Harrison determined and advised Ms. Maynard, among other things, that no violations had been found in the areas of PMP process, management or implementation and students' equal access rights and that the investigation was officially closed and concluded. Further, Dr. Harrison advised Ms. Maynard that, should additional concerns arise, Ms. Portman, as principal, was the first line of communication and that, if concerns or issues were not being resolved at the school level, the School Board had a process in place that was accessible. Ms. Maynard admits that she was not satisfied with the determination by Dr. Harrison. Ms. Maynard does not dispute that the deleting of the PMPs were directives from Ms. Portman and that Ms. Portman had the authority to give directives. Ms. Maynard disputes whether the directives were lawful directives and claims that to change the PMPs as directed would be falsifying the reading materials used by her students and, therefore, falsifying PMPs. A finding of fact is made that the directives were reasonable and lawful. Interaction with Students and Parents Ms. Maynard's class consisted of third graders. In addition to reading deficiencies indicated previously, some of her students also had behavioral issues. Ms. Maynard was heard by staff and teachers yelling at her students. For instance, the Media Specialist, Yvonne "Bonnie" Goldstein, heard Ms. Maynard yelling at her (Ms. Maynard's) students. The Media Center was across the hall from Ms. Maynard's classroom and had no doors. On one occasion, Ms. Goldstein was so concerned with the loudness of the yelling, she went to Ms. Maynard's room to determine whether something was wrong; Ms. Maynard assured her that nothing was wrong. Paraprofessionals working in the cafeteria have observed Ms. Maynard yelling at her students. Some teachers reported the yelling to Ms. Portman in writing. The Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Specialist and Administrative Designee, Marjorie DiVeronica, complained to Ms. Portman in writing regarding Ms. Maynard yelling at her students. A Haitian student was in Ms. Maynard's class for approximately two weeks during the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year. The student was not performing well in school. The student's father discussed the student's performance with Ms. Maynard. She indicated to the father that Ms. Portman's directives to teachers, regarding reading services, i.e., PMPs, had negatively impacted his son's performance. Ms. Maynard assisted the father in preparing a complaint with DOE, dated October 12, 2006, against Ms. Portman. Among other things, the complaint contained allegations against Ms. Portman regarding a denial of equal access to trained teachers and the reading curriculum in violation of Florida's Meta Consent Agreement and the Equal Education Opportunity Act. Ms. Portman was not aware that the parent had filed a complaint against her with DOE. Additionally, on October 16, 2006, Ms. Portman held a conference with the Haitian parent. Among other things, Ms. Portman discussed the reading services provided to the parent's child by Cypress Elementary. Ms. Portman provided a summary of the conference to Ms. Maynard. Ms. Maynard responded to Ms. Portman's summary on that same day. In Ms. Maynard's response, she indicated, among other things, that Ms. Portman did not give the Haitian parent accurate information regarding the child. Interaction with Staff (Non-Teachers) A system of awarding points to classes was established for the cafeteria at Cypress Elementary. A five-point system was established in which classes were given a maximum of five points daily. Classes entered in silence and departed in silence. Points were deducted if a class did not act appropriately. An inference is drawn and a finding of fact is made that the five-point system encouraged appropriate conduct by students while they were in the cafeteria. The cafeteria was overseen by Leonor Williamson, who was an ESOL paraprofessional, due to her seniority. The paraprofessionals were responsible for the safety of the students while the students were in the cafeteria. The paraprofessionals implemented the five-point system and came to Ms. Williamson with any problems that they had involving the cafeteria. On or about December 11, 2006, Ms. Maynard's students entered the cafeteria and were unruly. Ms. Williamson instructed the paraprofessional in charge of the section where the students were located to deduct a point from Ms. Maynard's class. Ms. Maynard was upset at Ms. Williamson's action and loudly expressed her displeasure to Ms. Williamson, demanding to know the basis for Ms. Williamson's action. Ms. Maynard would not cease complaining, so Ms. Williamson eventually walked away from Ms. Maynard. Ms. Williamson was required to oversee the safety of the students in the cafeteria and, in order to comply with this responsibility, she had to remove herself from the presence of Ms. Maynard. Ms. Maynard also complained to another teacher, who was attempting to leave the cafeteria with her own students. Additionally, the lunch period for each teacher's class is 30 minutes. On that same day, Ms. Maynard took her class from one section to another section in the cafeteria to serve ice cream to the students. As a result, Ms. Maynard surpassed her lunch period by approximately ten minutes and, at the same time, occupied another class' section. Ms. Williamson viewed Ms. Maynard's conduct as unprofessional during the incident and as abusing the scheduled time for lunch. On or about December 12, 2006, Ms. Williamson notified Ms. Portman about the incidents and requested Ms. Portman to remind Ms. Maynard of the cafeteria workers' responsibility to the students and the lunch period set-aside for each class. The incident on or about December 11, 2006, was not the first time that Ms. Williamson had instructed paraprofessionals to deduct points from Ms. Maynard's class. Each time points were deducted, Ms. Maynard became upset and loudly expressed her displeasure to Ms. Williamson. Ms. Williamson felt intimidated by Ms. Maynard. Also, paraprofessionals had deducted points from Ms. Maynard's class on their own accord without being directed to do so by Ms. Williamson. Whenever the deductions occurred, Ms. Maynard expressed her displeasure with the paraprofessionals' actions and often yelled at them in the presence of students and teachers. Another cafeteria situation occurred in December 2006. A paraprofessional, who was in charge of the section where Ms. Maynard's students ate lunch, observed some of the students not conducting themselves appropriately. The paraprofessional decided to deduct one point from Ms. Maynard's class and to indicate to Ms. Maynard why the point was deducted. Furthermore, the paraprofessional decided that the conduct did not warrant a disciplinary referral. Upon becoming aware of the incident, Ms. Maynard, who did not witness the conduct, wrote disciplinary referrals on the students involved and submitted them to Ms. Castiglione. The policy was that a referral could be written only by the staff person who observed the incident. Ms. Castiglione discussed the incident with the paraprofessional who indicated to Ms. Castiglione that the conduct did not warrant a disciplinary referral. As a result, Ms. Castiglione advised Ms. Maynard that, based upon the paraprofessional's decision and since Ms. Maynard did not witness the incident, Ms. Maynard's referrals would not be accepted and the matter was closed. Ms. Maynard did not agree with the paraprofessional's decision. Ms. Maynard approached the paraprofessional with disciplinary referrals on the students and presented the referrals and strongly encouraged the paraprofessional to sign the referrals. The paraprofessional refused to sign the referrals. Interaction with Staff (Teachers and Administrators) Safety procedures for the Media Center were established by the Media Specialist, Yvonne "Bonnie" Goldstein. At one point in time, Ms. Maynard wanted to bring all of her students to Distance Learning. Because of safety concerns, Ms. Goldstein advised Ms. Maynard that all of her students could not attend at the same time. However, Ms. Maynard brought all of her students anyway. Ms. Goldstein had no choice but to preclude Ms. Maynard from entering the Media Center. Additionally, at another point in time, Ms. Maynard requested, by email, that Ms. Goldstein provide all of her (Ms. Maynard's) students with New Testament Bibles. That same day, Ms. Goldstein advised Ms. Maynard that only two Bibles were in the Media Center and, therefore, the request could not be complied with. Disregarding Ms. Goldstein's reply, Ms. Maynard sent her students to the Media Center that same day in twos and threes, requesting the New Testament Bibles. When the two Bibles on-hand were checked-out, Ms. Goldstein had no choice but to offer the students alternative religious material. During 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, Terri Vaughn was the Team Leader of the third grade class. As Team Leader, Ms. Vaughn's responsibilities included being a liaison between team members and the administration at Cypress Elementary. Ms. Vaughn's personality is to avoid confrontation. Ms. Vaughn had an agenda for each team meeting. During team meetings, Ms. Maynard would deviate from the agenda and discuss matters of her own personal interest, resulting in the agenda not being completed. Also, Ms. Maynard would occasionally monopolize team meetings. Additionally, in team meetings, Ms. Maynard would indicate that she would discuss a problem student with parents who were not the student's parents. As time progressed, during team meetings, Ms. Maynard would engage in outbursts. She would become emotional on matters and raise her voice to the point of yelling. Also, it was not uncommon for Ms. Maynard to point her finger when she became emotional. At times, Ms. Maynard would have to leave the meetings and return because she had begun to cry. Additionally, at times after an outburst, Ms. Maynard would appear as if nothing had happened. Further, during team meetings, Ms. Maynard would excessively raise the subject of PMPs and accuse Ms. Portman of directing her to falsify PMPs or Title I documents. Ms. Vaughn did not report Ms. Maynard's conduct at team meetings to Ms. Portman. However, a written request by a majority of the team members, who believed that the team meetings had become stressful, made a request to the administration of Cypress Elementary for a member of the administration to attend team meetings; their hope was that an administrator's presence would cause Ms. Maynard to become calmer during the team meetings. An administrator began to attend team meetings. Marjorie DiVeronica, an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Specialist, was an administrative designee, and Ms. Portman designated Ms. DiVeronica to attend the team meetings. Ms. DiVeronica would take notes, try to keep meetings moving, and report to Ms. Portman what was observed. Discussions were stopped by Ms. DiVeronica, and she would redirect the meetings to return to the agenda. Even with Ms. DiVeronica's presence, Ms. Maynard would raise her voice. At one team meeting attended by Ms. Portman, Ms. Maynard would not stop talking and the agenda could not move. Ms. Portman requested Ms. Maynard to stop talking, but Ms. Maynard would not stop. Ms. Portman placed herself in close proximity to Ms. Maynard in order to defuse the situation and raised her voice in order to get Ms. Maynard's attention. Ms. Portman dismissed the meeting. Additionally, at a team meeting, Ms. Maynard had become emotional. Ms. Castiglione was in attendance at that meeting. Ms. Maynard raised her voice and was shouting and yelling and pointing her finger at Ms. Castiglione. Ms. Maynard continued her conduct at the team meetings no matter whether Ms. Portman, Ms. Castiglione, or Ms. DiVeronica attended the meetings. Outside of team meetings, Ms. Vaughn reached the point that she avoided contact with Ms. Maynard due to Ms. Maynard's constantly complaining of matters that were of her (Ms. Maynard's) own personal interest, which resulted in long conversations. Ms. Vaughn's classroom was next to Ms. Maynard's classroom. A closet, with a desk in it, was in Ms. Vaughn's room. At least two or three times, in order to complete some work, Ms. Vaughn went into the closet and closed the door. Another team member, Elizabeth Kane, also made attempts to avoid Ms. Maynard. Ms. Kane viewed Ms. Maynard as making the team meetings stressful. Also, Ms. Kane was uncomfortable around Ms. Maynard due to Ms. Maynard's agitation and, furthermore, felt threatened by Ms. Maynard when Ms. Maynard became agitated. Additionally, Ms. Kane made a concerted effort to avoid Ms. Maynard outside of team meetings. Ms. Kane would "duck" into another teacher's classroom or into a stall in the bathroom to avoid Ms. Maynard. Barbara Young, a team member, tried to be someone to whom Ms. Maynard could come to talk. Ms. Young was never afraid of or felt threatened by Ms. Maynard. Further, regarding the cafeteria incident in December 2006, which Ms. Maynard did not witness, Ms. Maynard did not allow the incident to end with Ms. Castiglione's determination to agree with the paraprofessional's decision to not issue disciplinary referrals. Ms. Maynard, firmly believing that Ms. Castiglione's action was unfair, openly disagreed with the decision in the presence her (Ms. Maynard's) students and strongly encouraged some of the students to go to Ms. Castiglione and protest Ms. Castiglione's determination. Some of the students went to Ms. Castiglione regarding her disciplinary determination. Ms. Castiglione explained her determination to the students, including the process and the reasoning why she did what she did. The students were satisfied with the determination after hearing Ms. Castiglione's explanation. Further, the students indicated to Ms. Castiglione that they had no desire to go to her, but Ms. Maynard wanted them to do it. Ms. Maynard's action had undermined Ms. Castiglione's authority with the students. LaShawn Smith-Settles, Cypress Elementary's Guidance Counselor, never felt threatened by Ms. Maynard or viewed Ms. Maynard as being hostile towards her. However, Ms. Maynard did make her feel uncomfortable. A second grade teacher, Paja Rafferty, never felt threatened by Ms. Maynard. Excessive Emails Communication thru emails is the standard operating procedure at Cypress Elementary. However, Ms. Maynard engaged in excessive emails. Ms. Maynard's emails were on relevant areas. However, she would not only send the email to the staff member, whether teacher or administrator, who could directly respond to her, but would copy every teacher and administrator. This process and procedure used by Ms. Maynard resulted in massive emails being sent to staff who might or might not have an interest in the subject matter. One such staff person, who took action to stop receiving the emails, was Ms. Kane. Ms. Kane was inundated with Ms. Maynard's emails regarding matters on which Ms. Kane had no interest or concern. To stop receiving the emails, Ms. Kane sent Ms. Maynard an email, twice, requesting that Ms. Maynard remove her (Ms. Kane) from the copy list. However, Ms. Maynard did not do so. Due to the massive number of emails sent to Ms. Portman by Ms. Maynard, a significant portion of Ms. Portman's time was devoted to responding to the emails. Ms. Portman had less and less time to devote to her responsibilities as principal of Cypress Elementary. Eventually, Ms. Portman was forced to curtail Ms. Maynard's emails. None of Ms. Maynard's emails threatened teachers, staff, or students. Additional Directives During the time period regarding the PMPs, Ms. Portman became concerned that the parents of Ms. Maynard's students were being misinformed by Ms. Maynard as to the students' performance and as to Cypress Elementary and Ms. Portman addressing the students' performance. On November 3, 2006, Ms. Portman held a meeting with Ms. Maynard. Also, in attendance were Ms. Castiglione and Patricia Costigan, Broward Teachers Union (BTU) Steward. During the meeting, among other things, Ms. Portman directed Ms. Maynard not to have conferences with a parent unless an administrator was present, either Ms. Portman or Ms. Castiglione, in order to assure that parents were not misinformed. A summary of the meeting was prepared on November 6, 2006. A copy of the summary was provided to Ms. Maynard and Ms. Costigan. Subsequently, Ms. Portman received a letter from a parent dated December 20, 2006. The parent stated, among other things, that the parent had approximately a two-hour telephone conversation, during the evening of December 19, 2006, with Ms. Maynard about the parent's child, who was a student in Ms. Maynard's class. Further, the parent stated that her son was referred to by Ms. Maynard as a "fly on manure." Even though Ms. Maynard denies some of the statements attributed to her by the parent and the time span of the telephone conversation, she does not deny that she had the telephone conversation with the parent. On December 20, 2006, Ms. Portman and Ms. Castiglione went to Ms. Maynard's classroom to remind Ms. Maynard of the directive. Ms Maynard was not in her classroom but was in another teacher's room, Barbara Young, with another teacher. Ms. Portman requested Ms. Maynard to come into Ms. Maynard's classroom so that she and Ms. Castiglione could talk with Ms. Maynard out of the presence of the other teachers. Ms. Maynard refused to leave Ms. Young's classroom indicating that whatever had to be said could be said in front of everyone, in front of witnesses. Ms. Portman, complying with Ms. Maynard's request, proceeded to remind Ms. Maynard of the directive to not conference with parents unless an administrator was present. Ms. Maynard became very agitated and yelled at them, indicating that she (Ms. Maynard) wanted what was said in writing and that she (Ms. Maynard) was not going to comply with the directive. Shortly before Winter break, on or about December 21, 2006, in the morning, Ms. Portman noticed Ms. Maynard by letter that a pre-disciplinary meeting would be held on January 10, 2006, regarding insubordination by Ms. Maynard. Among other things, the notice directed Ms. Maynard to "cease and desist all contact with parents" until the meeting was held. Later in the afternoon, after the administrative office was closed, Ms. Maynard returned to Ms. Portman's office. Ms. Maynard confronted Ms. Portman and Ms. Castiglione about the notice, wanting to know what it was all about. Ms. Maynard was very agitated and emotional, raising her voice and pointing her finger. Ms. Portman indicated to Ms. Maynard that the requirement was only to provide the notice, with the meeting to be held later. Ms. Portman asked Ms. Maynard several times to leave because the office was closed; Ms. Maynard finally left. After Ms. Maynard left Ms. Portman's office, Ms. Portman could hear Ms. Maynard talking to other staff. Ms. Portman was very concerned due to Ms. Maynard's agitation and conduct. Ms. Portman contacted the School Board's Professional Standards as to what to do and was told to request all employees, except day care, to leave. Ms. Portman did as she was instructed by Professional Standards, getting on the intercom system and requesting all employees, except for day care, to leave, not giving the employees the actual reason why they were required to leave. Unbeknownst to Ms. Portman, Ms. Maynard had departed Cypress Elementary before she (Ms. Portman) instructed the employees to leave. Regarding the afternoon incident, Ms. Maynard felt "helpless" at that point. She had been informed by Professional Standards to go to administration at Cypress Elementary with her concerns, who was Ms. Portman. Ms. Maynard viewed Ms. Portman as the offender, and, therefore, she was being told to go to offender to have her concerns addressed. On January 9, 2007, a Child Study Team (CST) meeting was convened to address the academic performance of a few of Ms. Maynard's students. Ms. Maynard had referred the students to the CST. The CST's purpose was to provide support for the student and the teacher by problem-solving, using empirical data to assist with and improve a child's academic performance and behavior, and making recommendations. No individual member can override a team's recommendation, only a principal could do that. On January 9, 2007, the CST members included, among others, Ms. DiVeronica, who was the CST's leader; Miriam Kassof, School Board Psychologist; and LaShawn Smith-Settles, Cypress Elementary's Guidance Counselor. Also, in attendance were Ms. Maynard and Ms. Castiglione, who, at that time, was an intern principal. During the course of the meeting, Ms. Maynard diverted the discussion from the purpose of the meeting to her wanting two of the students removed from her class. She began discussing the safety of the other students in the class, which was viewed, at first, as being well-meaning, however, when she insisted on the removal of the two students, she became highly emotional, stood-up, and was yelling. Members of the CST team attempted to de-escalate the situation, but Ms. Maynard was not willing to engage in problem solving and her actions were counterproductive. Due to Ms. Maynard's constant insistence on discussing the removal of the students from her class, the CST was not able to meet its purpose within the time period set- aside for the meeting. However, before the CST meeting ended, one of the recommendations made was for Ms. Maynard to collect daily anecdotal behavioral notes regarding one of the students and for the behavioral notes to be sent home to the student's parent. Ms. Castiglione gave Ms. Maynard a directive that, before the behavioral notes were sent home to the parent, the behavioral notes were to be forwarded to Ms. Castiglione for review and approval. Ms. Maynard resisted preparing behavioral notes, expressing that that plan of action would not help the situation. The CST members viewed Ms. Maynard's conduct as being unproductive, inappropriate, and unprofessional. On January 10, 2007, a pre-disciplinary meeting was held regarding Ms. Portman considering disciplinary action against Ms. Maynard for insubordination. Attendees at the meeting included Ms. Portman; Ms. Castiglione (at that time intern principal); Ms. Maynard; Jacquelyn Haywood, Area Director; Cathy Kirk, Human Resources; and Andrew David, Attorney for Ms. Maynard. The basis for the insubordination was Ms. Maynard's refusal to comply with Ms. Portman's directive for Ms. Maynard not to conference with parents unless an administrator was present. Ms. Portman pointed out that Ms. Maynard had a telephone conversation with a parent, regarding the parent's child, on December 19, 2006, without an administrator being present and showed Ms. Maynard the letter written by the parent to Ms. Portman, dated December 20, 2006. Ms. Maynard admitted only that she had the telephone conversation. Ms. Portman asked Ms. Maynard to provide a compelling reason as to why the disciplinary action should not be taken; Ms. Maynard did not respond. Ms. Portman reiterated the directive and advised Ms. Maynard that a letter of reprimand would be issued. A summary of the pre-disciplinary meeting was prepared. Ms. Maynard was provided a copy of the summary. On January 17, 2007, a written reprimand was issued by Ms. Portman against Ms. Maynard for failure to adhere to the administrative directive of not having a parent conference unless an administrator was present. The written reprimand stated, among other things, that Ms. Maynard had a parent's conference on the telephone with a student's parent without an administrator being present and that Ms. Maynard failed to present a compelling reason as to why no disciplinary action should be taken. Furthermore, the written reprimand advised Ms. Maynard that any further failure to perform consistent with the standards established for the effective and productive performance of her job duties, as a third grade teacher, would result in further disciplinary action up to and including a recommendation for termination of employment. Ms. Maynard received a copy of the written reprimand. After the Written Reprimand of January 17, 2007 Also, on January 17, 2007, Ms. Portman held a meeting with Ms. Maynard which was not a disciplinary meeting, but was a meeting for Ms. Portman to discuss her concerns and job expectations with Ms. Maynard. In addition to Ms. Portman and Ms. Maynard, attendees at the meeting included Ms. Castiglione; Jacqueline Haywood, Area Director; Cathy Kirk, Human Resources; and Mary Rutland, BTU Steward. Ms. Portman discussed five concerns and issued five directives. The first concern of Ms. Portman was Ms. Maynard's unprofessional behavior. The examples provided by Ms. Portman were Ms. Maynard's (a) yelling at paraprofessional staff in the cafeteria; (b) yelling at administrators, referencing the incident on December 20, 2006; and (c) continuing to publicly accuse Cypress Elementary's administrators of falsifying documents after an investigation had determined the accusation to be unfounded. Further, the directive that Ms. Portman issued to Ms. Maynard was to cease and desist all unprofessional and inappropriate behavior. Ms. Portman's second concern was unprofessional and inappropriate comments. The examples provided by Ms. Portman were Ms. Maynard's (a) indicating on December 20, 2006, while she was in Ms. Young's room, that she would not comply with the directives of which she was reminded by Ms. Portman; (b) speaking to a parent and referring to the parent's child as a "fly on manure"; and (c) telling parents, during conferences, that there was a problem at Cypress Elementary. Further, the directive that Ms. Portman issued to Ms. Maynard was to cease and desist all unprofessional and inappropriate comments. Additionally, Ms. Portman reminded Ms. Maynard that all notes were required to be submitted to administration for review no later than 1:00 p.m., except for student daily behavioral notes, which were to be submitted at 1:30 p.m. The third concern of Ms. Portman was continued dialogue of PMPs and ESOL issues. Ms. Portman indicated that the district had reviewed Ms. Maynard's issues and concerns and had responded to them. Further, the directive that Ms. Portman issued to Ms. Maynard was that the said issues were considered closed and that, if Ms. Maynard wished to pursue the said issues, she should contact her attorney. Ms. Portman's fourth concern was unmanageable emails sent by Ms. Maynard. The example provided by Ms. Portman was that she had received over 200 emails from Ms. Maynard. Ms. Portman indicated that the procedure that Ms. Maynard was required to follow when she (Ms. Maynard) had issues or concerns that needed to be addressed was (a) make an appointment with the administrator through the confidential secretary, identifying that person; and (b) provide the confidential secretary with the issue in writing. Only when (a) and (b) were complied with, would either Ms. Portman or Ms. Castiglione meet with Ms. Maynard, during Ms. Maynard's planning time, on the issue at the appointment time. Further, the directive that Ms. Portman issued to Ms. Maynard was that Ms. Maynard would cease and desist sending issues via emails and that conferences would be scheduled per the procedure outlined. The fifth concern of Ms. Portman's was protocol compliance. Ms. Portman indicated that the proper procedure for Ms. Maynard to adhere to when Ms. Maynard had a complaint or concern was to first, contact her (Ms. Maynard's) supervisor, not the area office, wherein Ms. Maynard would be provided with an opportunity to meet with an administrator. Additionally, as to meeting with an administrator, (a) Ms. Maynard would meet with either Ms. Portman or Ms. Castiglione; (b) an appointment with the administrator would be made through the confidential secretary, identifying that person; (c) Ms. Maynard would provide the confidential secretary with the issue or concern in writing; (d) only when (b) and (c) were complied with, would either Ms. Portman or Ms. Castiglione meet with Ms. Maynard, during Ms. Maynard's planning time, on the issue or concern at the appointment time; (e) administration would address the issue or concern and after the issue or concern had been presented to administration, Ms. Maynard was to consider the issue or concern closed. Further, the directive that Ms. Portman gave to Ms. Maynard was that Ms. Maynard was to comply with the protocol outlined for all of her concerns. Moreover, Ms. Portman indicated that a failure by Ms. Portman to follow all of the directives would result in disciplinary action up to and including termination from employment. A summary of the meeting of concerns and job expectations was prepared. On January 18, 2007, Ms. Portman noticed Ms. Maynard by letter that a pre-disciplinary meeting would be held on January 29, 2007, regarding gross insubordination by Ms. Maynard. Among other things, the notice directed Ms. Maynard to "cease and desist all communication with parents both written and oral" until the meeting was held. The notice was hand-delivered to Ms. Maynard at Cypress Elementary. On or about January 22, 2007, Ms. Portman held a meeting to develop a strategic plan to help motivate one of Ms. Maynard's students, who was in foster care, in the areas of academics and behavior. In addition to Ms. Portman, attendees at the meeting included, among others, Ms. Castiglione; Ms. Smith-Settles; and the student's Guardian Ad-Litem. During the meeting, the Guardian Ad-Litem indicated that Ms. Maynard had telephoned the student's foster parent, engaged in more than a 45-minute conversation, and, during the telephone conversation, made negative comments about Cypress Elementary. On January 23, 2007, Ms. Portman provided Ms. Maynard with a Notice of Special Investigative/Personnel Investigation (Notice) by hand-delivery. The Notice stated, among other things, that the investigation regarded allegations that Ms. Maynard was creating a hostile environment. The Notice directed Ms. Maynard not to engage anyone, connected with the allegations, in conversation regarding the matter and advised that a violation of the directive could result in disciplinary action for insubordination. Further, the Notice advised Ms. Maynard that, if she had any question regarding the status of the investigation, she should contact Joe Melita, Executive Director of Professional Standards and Special Investigative Unit, providing his contact telephone number. The Notice was provided to Ms. Maynard as a result of Ms. Portman making a request for the investigation on January 17, 2007. The request indicated that the allegations were: (1) yelling at paraprofessional staff in the cafeteria; (2) yelling at both the principal and assistant principal on December 20, 2006; (3) accusing the principal of falsifying documents even after the school district investigation found the accusation unwarranted; (4) not complying with directives; and accusing the principal of lying to a parent at a conference. The pre-disciplinary meeting noticed for January 29, 2007, was not held due to the placing of Ms. Maynard under investigation. On or about January 25, 2007, Ms. Maynard was temporarily reassigned to the School Board's Textbook Warehouse by Mr. Melita. Temporary reassignment is standard operating procedure during an investigation. Teachers are usually temporarily reassigned to the Textbook Warehouse. Because of the investigation, Ms. Maynard could not return to Cypress Elementary or contact anyone at Cypress Elementary without Mr. Melita's authorization. The SIU investigator assigned to the case was Frederick Davenport. On August 14, 2007, Investigator Davenport went to the Textbook Warehouse to serve a notice of reassignment on Ms. Maynard from Mr. Melita that her reassignment was changed immediately and that she was reassigned to Crystal Lake Community Middle School. The notice of reassignment required Ms. Maynard's signature. Investigator Davenport met with Ms. Maynard in private in the conference room and advised her of his purpose, which was not to perform any investigative duties but to serve the notice of reassignment and obtain her signature. Ms. Maynard refused to sign the notice of reassignment because it was not signed by Mr. Melita and left. Investigator Davenport contacted Professional Standards and requested the faxing of an executed notice of reassignment by Mr. Melita to the Textbook Warehouse. Professional Standards complied with the request. Investigator Davenport met again with Ms. Maynard in private in the conference room. Ms. Maynard refused to sign the executed notice of reassignment. She felt threatened by Investigator Davenport and ran from the room into the parking area behind the Textbook Warehouse at the loading dock. A finding of fact is made that Investigator Davenport did nothing that the undersigned considers threatening. Investigator Davenport did not immediately follow Ms. Maynard but eventually went to the steps next to the loading dock, however, he did not approach Ms. Maynard in the parking lot. Ms. Maynard refused to talk with Investigator Davenport, expressing her fear of him, and contacted the Broward County Sheriff's Office (BSO). A BSO deputy came to the parking lot. After Ms. Maynard discussed the situation with the BSO deputy and a friend of Ms. Maynard's, who arrived at the scene, she signed the notice of reassignment. Investigator Davenport delivered the notice of reassignment to Professional Standards. Investigator Davenport completed his investigation and forwarded the complete investigative file and his report to his supervisor for approval. At that time, his involvement in the investigation ended. His supervisor presented the investigation to Professional Standards. On or about September 19, 2007, the Professional Standards Committee found probable cause that Ms. Maynard had created a hostile work environment and recommended termination of her employment. The Flyer On April 27, 2009, a town hall meeting was held by the School Board at the Pompano Beach High School's auditorium. That town hall meeting was one of several being held the same night by the School Board. The process and procedure for the town hall meeting included (a) all persons who wished to speak were required to sign-up to speak and (b), if they desired to distribute documents, prior to distribution, the documents were required to be submitted and receive prior approval. Security was at the auditorium, and Investigator Davenport was one of the security officers. During the town hall meeting, an unidentified man rose from his seat, began to talk out-of-turn and loud, was moving toward the front where School Board officials were located, and was distributing a flyer. The actions of the unidentified man got the attention of Investigator Davenport and caused concern about the safety of the School Board officials. Investigator Davenport and the other security officer approached the unidentified man, obtained the flyer, and escorted him out of the auditorium. Once outside, the unidentified man indicated, among other things, that he had not obtained prior approval to distribute the flyer. The unidentified man did not identify who gave him the flyer. Investigator Davenport observed that the flyer was placed on most of the vehicles in the auditorium's parking lot. Once Investigator Davenport and his fellow security officer were convinced that the unidentified man was not a threat to the School Board officials, they released the unidentified man who left the area. Neither Investigator Davenport nor his fellow security officer saw Ms. Maynard at the town hall meeting or had any indication that she had been there. Neither Investigator Davenport nor his fellow security officer had any indication that Ms. Maynard had requested the man to distribute the flyer. The flyer was signed by Ms. Maynard and dated April 27, 2009. The heading of the flyer contained the following: "PARENTS FOR FULL DISCLOSURE"; an email address; and "PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN." The content of the flyer included statements that Ms. Maynard was a teacher in 2006 at Cypress Elementary and was directed twice by her administrators in emails to falsify Title I documents; that she was directed to mislead parents about materials and services that the students were legally entitled to; that many of the students failed because they were denied the materials and services; that she refused to follow the directives and filed complaints with the proper authorities; that in 2008, Ms. Portman, who gave the directives to Ms. Maynard, was removed from Cypress Elementary, along with Ms. Murphins and Dr. Harrison--the flyer also indicated the new locations of the individuals; that persons, who were interested in learning how to prevent themselves from being misinformed and to protect their children from being denied the materials and services, should contact Ms. Maynard at the email address on the flyer; and that parents who gather together have more power than teachers to influence the school districts. Ms. Maynard had no determinations or proof to support any of the allegations in the flyer, only her belief. Recognizing that the flyer contained statements similar to the statements of his investigative report, Investigator Davenport forwarded the flyer to Mr. Melita. Ms. Maynard admits that she prepared the flyer and signed it. She indicates that an individual who claimed to be a member of the parent group, Parents For Full Disclosure, contacted and met with her. That individual, who also did not reveal her identity, requested Ms. Maynard to prepare the flyer and informed Ms. Maynard that the flyer would be distributed at the town hall meeting. Filing Various Complaints with Investigative Agencies Ms. Maynard filed various complaints with public investigative agencies regarding: harassment during the investigation; minority teachers being investigated, reassigned to the Textbook Warehouse, and not receiving annual evaluations; and the flyer. The public investigative agencies included the FBI, Broward County EEOC, federal EEOC, Florida Public Service Commission, and Florida Commission on Human Relations. No evidence was presented to show that Ms. Maynard was prohibited from filing the complaints. Contract Status At the time of the investigation of Ms. Maynard in January 2007 for creating a hostile work environment, she was under a continuing contract. Further, at the time that Professional Standards determined probable cause, on or about September 19, 2007, that Ms. Maynard had created a hostile work environment, she was under a continuing contract. Ms. Maynard testified that, on November 2, 2007, she received and signed a professional services contract, which the School Board did not refute. A finding of fact is made that, on November 2, 2007, she received and signed a professional services contract.
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Broward County School Board enter a final order: Finding that Doreen Maynard committed misconduct, immorality, and gross insubordination, violating section 1012.33(4)(c), Florida Statutes (2007), and Florida Administrative Code Rules 6B-1.001, 6B-1.006, and 6B-4.009(2), (3), and (4); and Suspending Doreen Maynard, without pay and benefits, and terminating her employment. DONE AND ENTERED this 21st day of July, 2011, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S ERROL H. POWELL Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 21st day of July, 2011.
The Issue Whether Respondent, Stephen Lauster (Mr. Lauster or Respondent), violated section 1012.795(1)(g) and (j), Florida Statutes, and Florida Administrative Code Rule 6A-10.081(2)(a)1. and (2)(a)5.; and, if so, what disciplinary penalty should be imposed.
Findings Of Fact Respondent is a teacher in the School District and has been since 1990. He holds Florida Educator’s Certificate 664969, covering the areas of educational leadership and music, which is valid through June 30, 2021. The Commissioner is the head of the state agency, the Florida Department of Education. The Commissioner is responsible for investigating and prosecuting misconduct allegations against individuals who hold Florida teaching certificates and who are alleged to have violated standards of teacher conduct. § 1012.796(6), Fla. Stat. During the period relevant to the allegations in the Amended Administrative Complaint, Respondent was employed as a music teacher at the Middle School in the School District. Respondent’s annual professional evaluations for the relevant periods show scores considered “effective” and “highly effective.” Despite this, Respondent has an extensive disciplinary history with the School District, which is set forth below. On or about March 17, 2006, Respondent received a letter of reprimand from his then-principal, Frank Zencuch. On or about March 27, 2009, Respondent received a warning of unsatisfactory behavior from Principal Zencuch. On or about April 2, 2009, Respondent submitted a rebuttal to the March 27, 2009, written warning. On or about May 13, 2009, a Grievance Procedure Level II hearing was held to determine whether the letter of reprimand should be removed from Respondent’s personnel file. The grievance was denied by a School District representative and the letter of reprimand remained in Respondent’s file. On or about December 12, 2013, Respondent’s then-principal, Margaret Jackson, completed a conference summary regarding Respondent, concerning his language/conduct toward students. On or about February 7, 2014, Principal Jackson completed a conference summary regarding Respondent, concerning insubordination. On or about April 24, 2014, Principal Jackson completed a conference summary regarding Respondent, concerning his language/conduct toward students. On or about March 30, 2018, Principal Jackson completed a conference summary regarding Respondent, concerning his language/conduct toward students. On or about April 5, 2018, Respondent submitted a rebuttal to the March 30, 2018, conference summary. The Bus Incident on May 28, 2018 On May 28, 2018, Respondent was on his way home from school and was driving behind a school bus, which had left the Middle School ahead of him. Respondent was driving a large sports utility vehicle which allowed him to see into the rear window of the bus he followed. Respondent noticed students on the bus leaving their seats and moving around. Respondent contacted the School District’s transportation center to report the actions of the students on the bus. Respondent testified that after making his complaint to the transportation center, he saw no change in the actions of the students on the bus, who continued to leave their seats. Respondent continued to follow the bus until it made its first stop in a private gated community. Student M.O. lived in the gated community and got off at this stop to go home. At the time of the incident, M.O. was eleven years old. Her mother, K.O., waited in the community parking lot to pick M.O. up from school. When the bus stopped, Respondent pulled his car alongside the bus, exited his vehicle, and hurriedly approached the bus. M.O. disembarked the bus and walked towards her mother’s car. Respondent stood in front of the opened door of the bus and began to yell at the bus driver. Respondent then beckoned M.O. back to the bus. Respondent angrily yelled at M.O., telling her that the next day, “you come to the band room straight to the band office. If I have to come and find you it’ll be worse than what you are going to already get.” Seeing this transpire, K.O. approached Respondent to inquire about what was happening and why he was yelling at her daughter. K.O. asked Respondent who he was. Respondent told K.O. that the bus and M.O. were “in violation” and that M.O. was required to report to him in the morning. Respondent then continued to yell at the bus driver. He demanded the driver send another student to him—a student he claimed he witnessed standing in the bus’s aisles while it was being driven. K.O. touched Respondent’s arm from behind, to gain his attention. Respondent yelled at K.O. that she should not touch him. They engaged in a verbal exchange that was transcribed by a court reporter during K.O.’s. deposition: Respondent: Get your hands off me. Don’t ever touch me. I am doing what I’m supposed to do. K.O.: (Unintelligible.) Respondent: Lady, it’s fixing to get a lot worse. K.O.: What did you say to me? Respondent: I said, “Lady, it’s going to get worse.” Respondent scolded the bus driver for what he considered to be the driver’s inaction. He threatened all of the students on the bus with a “referral.” K.O. remained at the bus stop until the bus left. M.O. was upset and embarrassed by the incident. She did not know Respondent personally; she only knew that he was the school’s band director. The other students witnessed Respondent yelling at M.O. and K.O., which added to M.O.’s embarrassment. Later that evening, when K.O. arrived at home, she emailed Edward Laudise, the assistant principal of the Middle School, regarding the incident. The next day, Respondent reported to the Middle School, where he was told by Principal Jackson that he was not allowed to have any contact with M.O. On or about July 31, 2018, the School District’s Director of Human Resources recommended that Respondent be terminated based on the bus incident. The School District’s Superintendent joined in the recommendation for termination. However, on or about August 21, 2018, the School District suspended Respondent for a period of five days, without pay, instead. Thereafter, Respondent was the subject of several other disciplinary actions, unrelated to the bus incident. On or about August 27, 2018, Principal Jackson completed a conference summary regarding Respondent’s language/conduct toward students, co-workers, and parents, and his poor attendance and tardiness. On or about May 7, 2019, Principal Jackson held a meeting with Respondent to discuss allegations that Respondent told students, among other things, that “they would be the first generation of young people to die before their parents,” and that they “sound like they have stage 4 cancer.” On or about May 28, 2019, Respondent received a letter of reprimand and recommendation for a four-day suspension from the School District Director of Human Resources. On or about May 29, 2019, Respondent received a letter of reprimand and four-day suspension from the School District Superintendent. In September 2019, Respondent entered into a settlement agreement with the School District, through which the four-day suspension was reduced to two days. The P.E. Incident on January 30, 2020 A.H. and L.H. are students who attend the Middle School. On the date of the hearing, which was held approximately six months after the incident, A.H. and L.H. were 13 years old. On or about January 30, 2020, A.H. and L.H. were participating in physical education (PE) class. Melea Morgan was the PE teacher. A.H. and L.H. left PE class to go to the restroom. There is conflicting testimony as to the amount of time A.H. and L.H. spent in the bathroom, but the amount of time is irrelevant. After leaving the restroom, the students walked towards a water fountain. Respondent contacted Ms. Morgan to let her know that A.H. and L.H. were in the bathroom for a long time. He asked if she approved of him going to get them and Ms. Morgan agreed. Respondent approached A.H. and L.H. as they walked towards the water fountain. Respondent admonished A.H. and L.H. for being in the bathroom for an extended amount of time. He told them that they should be participating more in PE class and that he would be referring them to in-school suspension (ISS). Both A.H. and L.H. distinctly and explicitly recalled the events that took place that day. A.H. credibly testified about her interactions with Respondent, stating: And then Mr. Lauster – and then I started telling Mr. Lauster, so we will participate more, can we please not go to ISS. And he said, well, you’re on the soccer team, you shouldn’t be hanging out with a loser. She’s a do-nothing. You can’t -- you shouldn’t be hanging. And then I was just, like, we will participate more and I’m sorry. He was like, I expect more from you because you’re on the soccer team. And I was just -- and L said nothing. And I was just, I will do more. And then he just kept calling L a loser. A.H. distinctly recalled that Respondent referred to L.H. as a “do- nothing” and a “loser.” L.H.’s testimony was the same. She recalled that Respondent referred to her as both a “loser” and a “do-nothing” and that he asked A.H. why she was hanging out with “this loser,” referring to L.H. Respondent threatened to send A.H. and L.H. to ISS, but then told them he would give them another chance. The School District initiated an investigation into the matter. On or about March 6, 2020, Respondent received a letter of termination from the School District’s Superintendent. On or about April 22, 2020, Respondent entered into a settlement agreement with the School District. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement, the School District did not terminate Respondent. Rather, the settlement agreement operated as a “last chance agreement,” which provided for an automatic termination should any future infractions occur. Respondent was neither apologetic nor remorseful for how he handled A.H. and L.H. Instead, in testimony that was wholly unconvincing, he maintained that he did not call L.H. a “do-nothing” or a “loser,” but, rather, that he told the students that they “made a loser decision” and “chose to be do-nothings in the bathroom.” At only 12 or 13 years old at the time of the incident, L.H. was impressionable. By all accounts, she is a very shy girl. L.H.’s mother testified that L.H. struggles with anxiety and that in the past she has felt like she is a loser and does not have friends. She was “shook up” by Respondent’s comments. Similarly, Respondent was unremorseful and unapologetic about his actions during the bus incident. Respondent attempted to justify his behavior towards M.O., her mother, and the bus driver. He testified that he needed to stop the bus because he saw inappropriate activity on the bus that could have been dangerous to everyone onboard. Respondent is correct that the students on the bus were engaging in inappropriate behavior—they were getting in and out of their seats, walking in the aisles, and playfully fighting with each other. However, Respondent handled it poorly. Principal Jackson testified that the appropriate reaction would have been for Respondent to contact the School District’s transportation department (which he did) and then report the inappropriate behavior to school administration the next day. He should not have approached the bus or condemned the students or the bus driver. Respondent was clearly angry when he spoke to M.O. He lost his composure. Worse still, he directed his anger to K.O. Ultimate Findings of Fact The undersigned finds that Petitioner proved by clear and convincing evidence that Respondent inappropriately yelled at and intimidated M.O. who had changed seats on the bus while it was moving. Respondent also became confrontational with M.O.’s mother and threatened the remaining students on the bus with referrals, regardless of whether they were misbehaving or not. Petitioner also proved by clear and convincing evidence that Respondent told L.H., in front of A.H., that she was a “loser” and a “do nothing.” The undersigned finds that based on the findings of fact above, Respondent’s conduct during the bus incident and the PE incident have been proven by clear and convincing evidence and that Respondent, through his actions, violated the statutes and rules as alleged in the Amended Administrative Complaint. None of the other factual allegations contained in the Amended Administrative Complaint were proven by clear and convincing evidence.1
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that a final order be entered by the Education Practices Commission finding that Respondent, Stephen Lauster, violated section 1012.795(1)(j) by violating rule 6A-10.081(2)(a)1. and (2)(a)5.; and as sanctions for such violations, suspending his educator’s certificate for one year from the date of the Final Order. DONE AND ENTERED this 3rd day of November, 2020, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S JODI-ANN V. LIVINGSTONE Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 3rd day of November, 2020. COPIES FURNISHED: Ron Weaver, Esquire Post Office Box 770088 Ocala, Florida 34477-0088 (eServed) Lisa M. Forbess, Interim Executive Director Department of Education Education Practices Commission Turlington Building, Suite 316 325 West Gaines Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400 (eServed) Nicholas Anthony Caggia, Esquire Johnson and Caggia Law Group 510 Vonderburg Drive, Suite 303 Brandon, Florida 33511 (eServed) Matthew Mears, General Counsel Department of Education Turlington Building, Suite 1244 325 West Gaines Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400 (eServed) Randy Kosec, Jr., Chief Office of Professional Practices Services Department of Education Turlington Building, Suite 224-E 325 West Gaines Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400 (eServed)
The Issue Whether the Respondent committed the violations alleged in the Administrative Complaint issued February 17, 2005, and, if so, the penalty that should be imposed.
Findings Of Fact Based on the oral and documentary evidence presented at the final hearing and on the entire record of this proceeding, the following findings of fact are made: The Department of Education is the state agency responsible for investigating complaints against teachers holding Florida educator certificates for violations of Section 1012.795, Florida Statutes, and, in those cases in which probable cause is found, the Commissioner is responsible for filing a formal complaint and prosecuting a person holding a Florida educator certificate. § 1012.796, Fla. Stat. Pursuant to Section 1012.795(1), Florida Statutes, the Education Practices Commission ("EPC") is the entity responsible for imposing discipline for any of the violations set forth in that statute. Mr. Sorensen holds Florida Educator Certificate No. 807290. In 1998, Mr. Sorensen was hired by the Broward County public school system as an exceptional student education teacher and coach, and, from 1998 to the times material to this proceeding, he taught and coached various sports teams at McArthur High School ("McArthur"). From 1992 until his employment as a teacher, Mr. Sorensen was employed by the Broward County public school system as an assistant coach, a teacher's aide, and a substitute teacher. Mr. Sorensen was a very popular teacher and coach with the students at McArthur. Mr. Sorensen was removed from the classroom in the spring of 2001, and he has not worked with children since that time. Mr. Sorensen resigned his position with the Broward County School Board in 2005. Mr. Sorensen married in April 2002, and he currently resides with his wife and two children in Ocala, Florida. Mr. Sorensen has not been the subject of any prior disciplinary action or complaint by a student or fellow teacher. R.J. began attending McArthur in the 1999-2000 school year as a freshman. During the 2000-2001 school year, R.J. was in the 10th grade. R.J. turned 16 years of age during the three months material to this proceeding. Until the events that are the subject of this proceeding, Mr. Sorensen did not know R.J., although he knew of her from having seen her around school. R.J. knew Mr. Sorensen from seeing him at school, and she eventually introduced herself to him. On the evening of March 1, 2001, R.J. and Officer Tomas Hernandez had a conversation at South Broward High School. R.J. was attending night classes to make up some high school credits, and Officer Hernandez was working on his off-duty hours as a security guard at the school. Officer Hernandez's normal assignment was as a school resource officer at McArthur. During the conversation, R.J. mentioned to Officer Hernandez that he needed to watch one of the teachers at McArthur. Officer Hernandez pressed R.J. to identify the teacher, and she told him it was "Coach" Sorensen. According to Officer Hernandez's report, R.J. told him that Mr. Sorensen had pictures of naked female McArthur students on his school laptop computer; that he had shown these photographs to her; and that, while she was chatting with Mr. Sorensen by computer, he told her that he had a place at the beach, and she "felt" he wanted her to go there with him.4 Officer Hernandez reported the information to the Hollywood Police Department early the next morning, March 2, 2001, and he was told to transport R.J. from McArthur to the police station for an interview. Officer Hernandez then contacted R.J.'s father and her sister.5 R.J. was taken out of her first-period class shortly after school started. Officer Hernandez took her by car to the Hollywood police station, where she was interviewed by Detectives Navarro and Horne. At this time, R.J. gave a sworn statement regarding her contacts with Mr. Sorensen. Investigations of the charges R.J. made against Mr. Sorensen were conducted concurrently by the Hollywood Police Department and the Broward County School Board. As a result of the investigation by the Hollywood Police Department, Mr. Sorensen was arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, which is a felony. He pled nolo contendere to a lesser charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. Adjudication was withheld, and Mr. Sorensen was placed on probation for one year, which he successfully completed.6 Information about the accusations R.J. had made about Mr. Sorensen found its way to the media, and R.J. was pursued by reporters at school and at her home. R.J. felt that the students at McArthur were hostile towards her, and she claimed to have received threats from fellow students, both in person and on the Internet, in which she was told to drop the charges against Mr. Sorensen. R.J. spoke with Beverly James, the principal at McArthur, about her fears for her safety. Ms. James apparently did not allay her concerns, and R.J. moved to her sister's home and transferred to South Broward High School. R.J. quit school a few months later because she felt that the students and some of the teachers at South Broward High School "looked at [her] wrong" and were "cold" towards her.7 Photographs At or about the end of January or the beginning of February 2001, a member of McArthur's yearbook staff showed Mr. Sorensen the layout for the photographs of the wrestling team. Mr. Sorensen noticed that the photographs included several students who had been members of the wrestling team but who had quit the team after the photographs were taken for the yearbook. Mr. Sorensen felt it was unfair to include students in the yearbook photographs who were not, at the time, members of the team. Mr. Sorensen decided to provide the yearbook staff with some photographs of the then-current wresting team from his own collection to substitute in the yearbook for the out-dated photographs. Mr. Sorensen forgot to go through his photographs at home to choose the ones he wanted to give to the yearbook staff. He remembered one morning as he was getting ready to leave for school, and he grabbed a packet containing his personal photographs and tossed the packet into his duffle bag.8 Mr. Sorensen kept supplies for his wrestling team, such as tape and ointment, in the duffle bag. Mr. Sorensen put the duffle bag into his truck. At some point, while Mr. Sorensen was driving several members of his wrestling team to practice, two male students who were seniors at McArthur, opened the duffle bag, discovered the packet of photographs, and began looking through them. The students came across a photograph of a nude female and several other pictures of females who were semi-nude or wearing thong bikinis. When Mr. Sorensen noticed the two students looking at these photographs, he told them to put the photographs back in the duffle bag. Mr. Sorensen did not take the photographs from the students because he was driving at the time, but the students put the photographs back into the duffle bag. After practice, Mr. Sorensen went to McArthur and dropped off his duffle bag in his classroom. At some point, Mr. Sorensen took the packet of photographs out of the duffle bag and put them in the bottom left-hand drawer of the desk in his classroom. Mr. Sorensen later looked through some of the photographs and chose several photographs of the wrestling team that he wanted to include in the yearbook. R.J. often went into Mr. Sorensen's classroom during the school day, sometimes to see her friend, M., who was in Mr. Sorensen's special education class. R.J. regularly checked her e-mail on Mr. Sorensen's school computer and hung around his desk. At some point in the two weeks prior to her conversation with Officer Hernandez, R.J. went through the photographs in Mr. Sorensen's desk drawer. She saw two photographs of nude or semi-nude females, several photographs of females in thong bikinis, and a photograph of a McArthur student named Mandy, whom R.J. knew from school. Except for Mandy, R.J. did not know the identity of the females in these photographs. Contrary to her statements to Officer Hernandez and Detectives Navarro and Horne, R.J. did not see any photographs of nude or partially nude women on Mr. Sorensen's classroom computer or on his school laptop computer. After R.J. gave her statement to Detectives Navarro and Horne, a number of school and local police investigators, together with Ms. James, McArthur's principal, went to Mr. Sorensen's classroom and asked if they could look through his desk. Several photographs of nude, semi-nude, and scantily- clad females were found among the photographs in Mr. Sorensen's desk drawer. The investigators also confiscated Mr. Sorensen's computer, and it was sent to an Apple Computer technician located outside of Florida, who recovered one photograph of a partially nude woman from the computer's hard drive.9 About a week before Mr. Sorensen's desk was searched, Mandy, who was a 12th grade student at McArthur, gave Mr. Sorensen a photograph of herself wearing tight clothing and standing in a provocative pose; the student had written her name and telephone numbers on the back. Mr. Sorensen put the photograph in his desk drawer, with the other photographs. The photograph of Mandy was among those discovered in the search of Mr. Sorensen's desk drawer. In addition to the photographs he kept in his desk drawer, Mr. Sorensen had numerous photographs on the top of his desk, under glass or plastic, including photographs of ex- girlfriends, of females in both regular and bikini bathing suits, and of members of the various sports teams he coached. These photographs were visible to anyone who came into his classroom and had been on his desk for quite a long time. None of the photographs on the top of the desk were considered to be inappropriate by McArthur's principal. Even if Mr. Sorensen did not realize when he put the packet of photographs into his duffle bag that photographs of a nude and several scantily-clad females were among the other photographs he took from his house, it is reasonable to infer that he knew that these pictures were among the ones he put into his desk drawer because he knew that two members of his wrestling team had gone through the photographs in the duffle bag and had looked at these photographs. In addition, Mr. Sorensen had himself gone through a number of the photographs after he put them in the desk drawer. In placing and leaving these photographs for over a month in his classroom desk where they were accessible to students, Mr. Sorensen created conditions that were potentially harmful to learning and to the mental health of any student who might happen to see the photographs in his desk. This conduct also exposed students to unnecessary embarrassment if a student were to come across the inappropriate photographs in Mr. Sorensen's desk. The evidence presented by the Commissioner is, however, not sufficient to establish clearly and convincingly that Mr. Sorensen showed the photographs to any students.10 Inappropriate communications of a sexual nature Mr. Sorensen maintained an Internet access account with America Online ("AOL"), and he had a screen-name he used for instant messaging feature on the Internet. One feature of AOL instant messaging is a "buddy list" in which a person can list the screen-names of other AOL instant-messaging users; when a person logs onto the Internet, all users who have that person's screen-name on their "buddy lists" are alerted that the person is online. Mr. Sorensen gave his AOL instant-messaging screen- name to numerous students at McArthur, including students in his class and members of the various teams he coached, so they could contact him about school work and schedules. If he was on the "buddy list" of any of these individuals, they would be alerted whenever he logged onto the Internet through AOL, and they could send him instant messages. Mr. Sorensen logged onto AOL to check his e-mail every night, and he would regularly receive instant messages from McArthur students. For the most part, these messages had no substance but consisted primarily of students and Mr. Sorensen asking each other what was going on. Mr. Sorensen and R.J. exchanged instant messages on an average of every other day for about four months prior to March 1, 2001.11 On most occasions, their exchanges consisted of short discussions of events at school. On several occasions, R.J. and Mr. Sorensen discussed R.J.'s boyfriend, and R.J. confided in Mr. Sorensen that she was pregnant and intended to get an abortion.12 R.J. did not report any inappropriate sexual communications from Mr. Sorensen until her conversation with Officer Hernandez, even though, on more than one occasion, Officer Flasher observed R.J. instant messaging Mr. Sorensen on the computer owned by Officer Flasher and questioned her about e-mailing a teacher.13 In considering and weighing the evidence submitted in this case relating to Mr. Sorensen's alleged inappropriate sexual communications with R.J., the undersigned has been mindful that, as discussed further in the Conclusions of Law below, the Commissioner bears the burden in this case of proving by clear and convincing evidence the factual bases for the statutory and rule violations alleged in the Administrative Complaint. The Commissioner presented evidence to the effect that Mr. Sorensen engaged in the sexual misconduct described in the Administrative Complaint, but the totality of the evidence presented by the Commissioner is not sufficiently persuasive to constitute clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Sorensen committed the acts of sexual misconduct alleged in the Administrative Complaint.14
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Education Practices Commission enter a final order: Dismissing Counts 1, 2, 6 and 7 of the Administrative Complaint; Finding Dana Sorensen guilty of having violated Section 1012.795(1)(i), Florida Statutes, and Florida Administrative Code Rules 6B-1.006(3)(a) and (e); and 2. Placing Mr. Sorensen on probation for a term of two years and under such conditions as the Education Practices Commission shall deem appropriate. DONE AND ENTERED this 21st day of February, 2006, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S PATRICIA M. HART Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 21st day of February, 2006.
The Issue Whether Respondent violated sections 1012.795(1)(d), 1012.795(1)(g), and 1012.795(1)(j), Florida Statutes (2008),1/ and Florida Administrative Code Rules 6B-1.006(3)(a) and 6B- 1.006(5)(a), and, if so, what discipline should be imposed.
Findings Of Fact Ms. Dunn holds Florida Educator's Certificate 930668, covering the area of exceptional student education, which is valid through June 30, 2012. At all times pertinent to this case, Ms. Dunn was employed as a varying exceptionalities teacher at Seminole High School in the Pinellas County School District (School District). Deborah Joseph (Ms. Joseph), the director of School Partnerships for St. Petersburg College, hired Ms. Dunn for the Spring Semester of 2009 to supervise 12 student interns, teaching in various Pinellas County elementary schools. Ms. Joseph credibly testified that she asked Ms. Dunn what Ms. Dunn would do with her current employment as a Pinellas County teacher, if offered a job. Ms. Dunn stated that she would resign as a teacher. On January 30, 2009, during school hours, Ms. Dunn left the Seminole High School campus without permission from the school administration. When the school's assistant principal, Phillip Wirth (Mr. Wirth), questioned Ms. Dunn about her whereabouts, Ms. Dunn alternately claimed that she had been given permission by another principal to leave the campus and that she had been meeting with another teacher. Neither of Ms. Dunn's explanations was supported by the assistant principal or the teacher. Consequently, on March 9, 2009, Mr. Wirth gave Ms. Dunn a written reprimand for her conduct. The evidence clearly and convincingly shows that Ms. Dunn continued her employment as a teacher at Seminole High School while at the same time working a second job for St. Petersburg College, supervising student interns working in elementary schools. Unfortunately, Ms. Dunn's work hours at Seminole High School coincided with the student interns' work hours at the elementary schools. In order to work both jobs, the record shows that Ms. Dunn was routinely untruthful in her use of sick leave time and left the Seminole High School campus during school hours without permission. For example, the record shows that she requested sick leave on February 26, 2009; March 4, 2009; March 6, 2009; and March 17, 2009. On those very same dates, Ms. Dunn signed in to supervise interns at Pinellas Central Elementary School, Sandy Lake Elementary School, Plumb Elementary School, and McMullen Booth Elementary. Again, on one date, April 23, 2009, Ms. Dunn wrote in her leave request that "family and kids touch [of] flu" and that she was signing out for a doctor's appointment beginning at 9:30 a.m. The record shows on that same day Ms. Dunn miraculously recovered from the illness and was able to eat lunch at her husband's nearby restaurant at 11:50 a.m., and then supervise an intern at Pinellas Central Elementary School at 1:33 p.m. In addition to misusing sick leave, the record clearly showed that Ms. Dunn would leave the Seminole High School campus without permission or signing out and would falsify school records. For example, the record clearly showed that, on April 16, 2009, Ms. Dunn left the school campus without permission. The record shows that she signed out for lunch at 1:00 p.m. and that she returned at 1:30 p.m. However, the records also show at 1:45 p.m., that same day, Ms. Dunn signed into High Point Elementary in order to supervise an intern. Again, on April 22, 2009, Ms. Dunn left Seminole High School without permission or signing out at 9:46 a.m. Walter Weller (Mr. Weller), the principal of Seminole High School, credibly testified that co-teachers, like Ms. Dunn, are placed in exceptional student education classes in order to assist with the students' individual education plans and to help the students succeed. Further, he credibly testified that it was important that teachers remain on campus to keep classrooms covered, and it is a safety issue for the students. James Lott (Mr. Lott), an administrator in the Office of Professional Standards for the School District, credibly testified that the School District felt that progressive discipline was not appropriate in Ms. Dunn's case, because her actions amounted to stealing time and outright falsification of records. Ms. Dunn testified that she did not dispute that she had the second job and claimed that the collective bargaining agreement allowed her to work a second job. Ms. Dunn testified that she never used time off with pay and that the School District should have used a progressive discipline against her, rather than terminating her employment. Further, Ms. Dunn claimed that she and the School District had reached an agreement concerning her claim for unemployment compensation that the School District "would not go after my certificate." Ms. Dunn showed no remorse or acknowledgement of her many untruthful statements or wrongdoing.
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that a final order be entered finding that Ms. Dunn violated sections 1012.795(1)(d), 1012.795(1)(g), and 1012.795(1)(j) and rules 6B-1.006(3)(a) and 6B-1.006(5)(a), and suspending her educator’s certificate for two years followed by a period of three years' probation during which she shall be required, along with standard conditions utilized by the Education Practices Commission, to complete a three-hour college level course in ethics during the first year of her probation. DONE AND ENTERED this 27th day of April, 2011, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S THOMAS P. CRAPPS Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 27th day of April, 2011.
