INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A teacher at Storm Grove Middle School facing an 8-day unpaid suspension over allegations stemming from a student discipline event on Feb. 23 will have his case heard by the Indian River County School Board, the board unanimously decided Tuesday evening.
The teacher, identified as Alan Seiden, of Port St. Lucie, is accused of inappropriately handling a student’s discipline at the school, causing a “serious escalation of an incident by using aggressive body language toward a student, by charging, intimidating and challenging a student, and by pushing and hitting a student,” wrote Schools Superintendent Dr. Fran Adams in her April 3 charging letter to Seiden.
In the letter, Dr. Adams writes that Seiden left students unattended and unsupervised in the hallway outside his call for eight to 10 minutes, a violation of policy and rules.
Dr. Adams has recommended that, along with the 8-day unpaid suspension, Seiden undergo mandatory anger management counseling as well as two classroom management classes.
Seiden has since hired Johnson & Sirmons, of Brandon, Fla., to represent him. He has requested a hearing to review the proposed disciplinary actions.
The law firm requested the hearing be before an administrative law judge appointed by the Division of Administrative Hearings.
Instead, the School Board decided that it would oversee the hearing.
School Board member Claudia Jimenez told her fellow members that the matter involves a district employee and a district student and it should be up to the district to determine how best to handle the case – not someone from outside the district in Tallahassee.
School Board Attorney Suzanne D’Agresta told the board that if they chose to go with the appointed judge, there would be a $250 initial fee and then the judge would charge an hourly fee for all pre-hearing work. In the case of terminations, that bill has been as much as $5,000, she said, adding that she could not estimate what the cost would be for a disciplinary hearing.
Vice Chair Carol Johnson said that, for her, it would be important for the board to oversee the hearing because the board would still have to make the final decision, acting on the recommendation of the appointed judge.
“I would rather we be privy to all the information,” Johnson said, not act based on a recommendation.
