INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A Spanish teacher at Gifford Middle School, Xiomara DeLuke, has been suspended without pay until a May 31 hearing before the Indian River County School Board. The hearing will determine whether DeLuke is terminated.
There are two incidents preceding the district’s April 18 notice to DeLuke it intends to terminate her.
On Feb. 4, DeLuke is accused of encouraging her son to slap a student on the back of the neck in front of the class for asking a stupid question, for which she was suspended without pay for five days.
She was suspended for seven days without pay for “a series of incidents,” according to the April 12 charging letter, which accuses her of telling students to “shut up,” giving a zero to a student who earned a 60, misrepresenting a student’s attendance record and making other demeaning remarks to students.
At least three school board members, Claudia Jimenez, Charles Searcy and Shawn Frost, wanted to terminate her, not suspend her, they said, at the April 12 school board meeting. They said she was transferred from another school for an incident, which was not documented, according to Public Information Officer Flynn Fidgeon. The union contract stipulates the district use a progression of disciplinary measures before termination, be notified of termination in advance and be given a hearing if requested. Therefore the motion to terminate could not go forward April 12 without violating the teachers’ union contract.
On April 18 DeLuke was informed the school intended to terminate her because she had called the home of a student called into the office to be interviewed about her behavior in the classroom. She had been warned not to “retaliate or to take any action that showed favor or disfavor toward any person who you perceived to have been involved in your disciplinary actions,” states the charging letter.
The school board held a special meeting May 3, voting unanimously to suspend DeLuke without pay. The board then discussed whether to honor DeLuke’s request that a Department of Administrative Hearings judge hear the matter of her termination or hear it themselves. Jimenez wanted to refer it, but was outvoted by the other four members.
DeLuke has so far not responded to a request for comment. She is being represented by Nicholas Caggia, Law Office of Thomas Johnson, in Brandon.
The hearing will be held 9 a.m., May 31, at the administration building, 6500 57th St.