Charges have been dropped against Surfside Elementary School speech and language pathologist Kimberly Loomis, who had been out of jail on bond facing felony charges for allegedly threatening bodily harm to her principal, Lori Masterson.
Brevard School District officials won’t comment or provide any documents clarifying Loomis’ employment status or say whether or not she will be teaching at the Satellite Beach school or anywhere else when classes resume next week. All that information is sealed pending the completion of an investigation into the May 24 incident, due to a statutory exemption from Florida’s public records law.
The evening of the last day of school, Masterson called Brevard County Sheriff’s Office deputies to her home after receiving expletive-laden text messages from Loomis threatening violence to her principal the evening of the last day of school.
After her first appearance in court on May 25 before Judge Kenneth Friedlander on the initial second-degree felony charge of “written threats to kill or do bodily injury,” Loomis posted bond on May 26 and hired Indialantic criminal defense attorney Ronald Ecker. On June 5, according to court records, Ecker filed a notice of appearance and a notice of discovery and then on June 7, her arraignment, which had been scheduled for July 6 before Judge David Koenig, was cancelled.
On July 14, State Attorney Phil Archer’s office filed an order of “No Information,” meaning the state would not file formal charges in a follow-up to Loomis’ arrest. A certificate of discharge was issued to the bond agency holding Loomis’ $5,000 bond. The conditions of her release from jail, according to court records, were “Do not stalk victim LM (Lori Masterson), no contact with victim LM, no possession of weapons, no return to victim’s residence,” and “No return to Surfside Elementary without approval of the school board.”
Police reports from the incident state, “Ms. Masterson was in fear for her life due to Ms. Loomis violent criminal history.” Sheriff’s Office booking records show that Loomis, a 48-year-old Indialantic resident, spent two weeks in jail in January 2014 after being arrested on initial charges of domestic violence batter related to an alleged disturbance with her estranged husband. Those charges were also dropped.
Records technician Casey Piquero, in response to a request for Loomis’ employment status, would only say, “The information you have requested is currently under investigation and is exempt from ch.119.07, the public records laws, until the investigation has been concluded. This request for information will have to be resubmitted.”
School District spokesman and Public Information Officer Matt Reed did not respond to questions posed to him by email about Loomis’ status, asking specifically, “Can you at least tell me if Kimberly Loomis will be performing her regular duties during this investigation? Parents will want to know if this person might be in a classroom with their child.”
When the investigation is concluded, and after a 10-day waiting period and time for the investigation records to be redacted, the documents may or may not be available, depending upon which if any statutory exemptions the school district claims. Not having any idea when the investigation will be completed, the Melbourne Beachsider was told to resubmit the request “in a few weeks.”
Loomis’ personnel file at the school district shows Masterson rated Loomis as effective or highly effective on annual performance reviews prior to and after the January 2014 incident, and the only notation in the file was that she took unauthorized days off – time that corresponds to the days she was incarcerated.
After her release in 2014, Loomis was permitted return to the classroom, and to request and use her allotted time off, retroactively for the time she was in jail.
