ST.CLOUD, Fla. — “There’s a lot of things that happen to kids and I don’t want that to happen to my daughter,” said the mother of a 13-year-old student, without identifying herself.
The mother spoke exclusively with Channel 9 and explained what her daughter and four of her classmates allegedly experienced in class last Wednesday. “They were doing their work. And then when they were finished with their work, they started playing cards,” she recalled. “So it was just a student playing cards, and the substitute asked the students if he could join them.”
The case happened at Harmony Middle School, in Saint Cloud. According to the mother, that was the first time she heard about that teacher. “Even if it’s just showing her images, that’s how it starts. And I don’ want him to be around kids,” the woman said, in tears.
The 19-year-old teacher was playing cards with the students in the classroom, an incident reported obtained exclusively by Channel 9 showed. In that game, the loser would show memes on their phone, and that’s when the substitute teacher decided to show some of his personal memes - including an image of a person use a flamethrower to burn someone’s private parts, covered with a black bar.
The second picture is just too graphic to detail. The Osceola County School District said in a statement that the substitute teacher in this case has been terminated, and that he was hired through a third party vendor, called Kelly Services.
Kelly Services sent the following statement to Channel 9:
The safety and well-being of the students we serve is our top priority. We take all reports of inappropriate behavior by our substitute educators seriously and are cooperating with the district and authorities in their investigation. The substitute teacher has been removed from all assignments pending the outcome of the investigation.
Our screening procedures comply with the Florida Department of Education’s rigorous standards and include comprehensive background and fingerprint checks, which cover local, state, and national criminal records, as well as the National Sex Offender Registry and crimes against children. In addition to state standards, our vetting system strictly adheres to all district requirements, ensuring we maintain the highest safety standards.
Our substitute educators complete role-specific professional development training covering classroom management, teaching best practices, and safety protocols before taking on any assignments.
We remain committed to providing a secure and productive educational environment for all students and have no further comment on the ongoing investigation.
The 13-year-old came back to class on Monday, but the mother is worried about the impact that this incident could have on her. “They [the school district] should do their own due diligence on knowing who’s with our kids,” the mother said.
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