The Orlando Sun Sentinel is reporting that at least 150 Florida teachers have been disciplined in the past three years for accusations arising from sexual misconduct with students. One concerning trend the report showed is sexual misdeeds is rising in Florida – especially among female educators.
Some of the most severe cases resulted in arrests and criminal convictions for sex offenses but the Sentinel’s review of teacher-discipline records from the Florida Department of Education found that many of the alleged misconducts did not rise to a criminal level.
Regardless of whether the teachers were criminally charged, the facts of some of these incidents are alarming. Among the “not charged” cases are allegations that a Port Orange teacher sent text messages to a boy, calling him “cutie” and “sexie”; a ninth-grade teacher in Tampa who asked a student about the color of her nipples; and an Orlando coach who used e-mail and instant messages to tell a 13-year-old girl he loved her and wanted their relationship to grow beyond friendship.
Those 150 disciplinary cases don’t include the dozens of educators who have been suspended or lost their teaching certificates since 2006 for molesting nonstudents, downloading porn at school, having sex in public and trying to pick up prostitutes. Many of the cases occurred in the South Florida and Tampa Bay areas. In Central Florida, 34 teachers were disciplined in the three-year period, including 12 from Orange County, 11 from Volusia, four from Polk, three from Seminole, three from Brevard and one in Lake.
Questions about this post or sexual battery crimes can be directed to Florida Criminal Defense Attorney Whittel & Melton, LLC at 866-608-5LAW (5529).