Tammy Seibel was beside herself.
Her son came home from Lecanto High School in Citrus County in late January and complained in front of the entire class about a teacher who had belittled him. Teachers questioned his son's intelligence, told everyone he did poorly on tests, and wondered aloud how he got into the International Pre-Baccalaureate program.
Seibel filed a complaint with the school, which launched an investigation a few days later. At the time, other students told authorities that the teacher divided the class into “smart” and “stupid” groups and made inappropriate comments about gender, race and other topics. The teacher resigned before the district could take any action.
In the meantime, Zybell did some research of his own.
She discovered a Tampa Bay Times article years ago in which the same teacher, Michael Maynard, had made derogatory comments about students at several Pasco County schools. And she discovered disciplinary files from the state Board of Educational Practice, showing that Maynard was disciplined in 2017, given one year of probation and required to take a college-level educational ethics course. It was showing.
She sent a letter to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. asking how a teacher with a years-long history of verbally abusing students could be assigned to her child's school.
“When will we lose the privilege of negatively impacting and traumatizing children?” she wrote.
Reportable violations
in Florida in 2007 The Ministry of Education has made it easier for schools to identify potentially problematic teachers who have previously gone unnoticed.
The department launched myfloridaTeacher.com, an online database of disciplinary actions taken against state certifications of teachers. It also required districts to report violations for consideration and possible additions to the site.
The move comes amid concerns that the district is allowing educators to resign for conduct that put them in danger of being fired, without telling anyone why. These teachers may then move on to new jobs elsewhere.
This website contains records up to 1981. However, information is only useful to the extent that it is used.
Pasco County officials knew all that when they sent over the file on Maynard. Mr. Maynard resigned without facing any expected layoffs. Assistant Superintendent Kevin Sibley, who first handled the complaint against Maynard in 2009, said the district was not asking the state to take any specific action.
“But we knew what we were discussing with him was a reportable crime,” Sibley said.
During a 2016 investigation into Mr. Maynard's classroom behavior, Pasco officials found that Mr. Maynard publicly questioned the gender identity of a transgender student, mocked the student's Christianity, and called the student “stupid” and “pathetic.” I heard accusations that he had called some students in the class violent. cry. Mr. Maynard had previously received several warning letters, which resulted in the superintendent recommending that Mr. Maynard be fired.
Once the state takes action, All other districts will be able to find results During the background check, act accordingly.
Maynard, 70, didn't hide her past from Citrus County schools. He wrote in his job application to Lecanto High School that he was disciplined “for making derogatory political and religious statements.” If he did not disclose the information, he could lose his job for making false statements on official documents.
Citrus schools spokeswoman Lindsey Blair said the district's human resources department reviewed Maynard's state file and informed Lecanto High officials about Maynard's history at Pasco. It was up to the school to conduct interviews and background checks and decide how to proceed, she said.
Maynard successfully completed his probation and worked as a substitute teacher in Hernando County for about a year, where he tried three times to open a charter school but was turned down. Before he volunteered at Lecanto, Citrus and Cypress, he taught at the Creek Juvenile Offender Correctional Center for just over two years.
His mention was positive. For example, the school principal at the correctional center said Maynard had a “unique ability to teach to the level of each individual student,” whether they were low-achieving or gifted students, and that his efforts helped him achieve academic excellence. He said it brought about results.
But there was one thing that went unnoticed. Pasco's recommendation was not his final supervisor. Rather, he included a former district superintendent and former partner in his Hernando Charter School proposal, but he left the Pasco district that was under investigation before Maynard left.
Lecanto selected Maynard as a starter in the fall of 2022.
New job, more trouble
After a year and a half, the government found reason to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him.
“Mr. Maynard did tell his students that if he discussed 'sex, drugs and violence' when teaching vocabulary, they would learn,” Vice Principal Richard Crowley said in a recently closed investigation. written in the file. Mr. Maynard told his class that when he was in high school, he asked the girls to get in the back seat of his car to show them how good he was with his hands. When I asked if I could charge my phone at , I asked if I had any porn on my phone.”
Mr. Maynard declined to write a response., According to Crowley's report. However, Mr. Crowley asked authorities if the students interviewed for the investigation had been drug tested because he believed there were “a large number of students in his class who were using drugs.” , he added.
In an email to the Times, Maynard explained his rationale for criticizing the student during class, suggesting the boy had been disrespectful and disrespectful to his education and teachers. For his mother, Maynard wrote, “the only problem was that her son's feelings were hurt.”
He “praises 4 out of 15 quizzes, bans books at Moms for Liberty, finds drug paraphernalia in classrooms, uncontrollable absenteeism, under threat from privileged students.'' “Rather than deal with the demands of living and working long hours, I quit Lecanto High School.” They work many hours for very little pay. ”
As in the Pasco County case, he portrayed himself as the victim of a “Trump cult of evangelicals” and said they had made baseless allegations against him.He noted his academic success with many of his students. — The state honored him in 2016 for his students’ consistently outstanding performance — and downplayed criticism of his attitude.
“Pulitzer Prize-winning novels are banned, Romeo is a child molester and a pervert, Dr. Seuss is rude and insensitive, and English teachers don't like graphic novels because kids don't like reading. “I ended up teaching,” he said. I have written. “And like in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, the kids are empowered to attack you if you don't make them happy. Everyone gets a trophy!”
open your eyes
The Citrus County School District has submitted a file to the Department of Education for review and possible action. A department spokeswoman would not confirm or deny whether the agency was conducting any investigation into Maynard's alleged wrongdoing.
Andrew Spahr, president of the Florida Education Association teachers union, said he was not familiar with the specifics of the situation. He said he could see different sides of this debate.
On the one hand, he said, while everyone wants the best teachers in the classroom, some people aren't cut out for the job. They may have good academic ability but poor classroom management, or vice versa. Some people may be kicked out.
He added that there is always the possibility that a teacher could be wrongly accused of inappropriate behavior. That's why due process exists. And even if a teacher makes the wrong decision, they may succeed if given a second chance, Spurr added.
He noted that Florida's teacher shortage only complicates the problem.
“It could mean that people who don't deserve a second or third or fourth chance might have one,” Spurr said.
He said it was important for employers to know what they were facing and make decisions with their eyes open. That's the point of state databases.
“It's clear that districts have to make decisions based on the information they have,” Spurr said.
