Sarasota County Schools is restructuring its human resources department after a third-party investigation found leadership at Riverview High School and district investigators mishandled complaints of cheating, sexual harassment and misuse of school resources.
The April report concluded the district failed to properly handle three separate complaints: one involving a Spanish teacher in the school’s prestigious International Baccalaureate program allegedly helping students cheat on oral exams; another involving the IB program director allegedly profiting from a personal business using campus resources; and a third involving a teacher allegedly behaving inappropriately with female students.
In each case, the report by consulting firm Hultman + Joshi pointed to a broader culture of fear and mistrust — noting that in some instances, staff who filed complaints were subsequently investigated themselves — leaving students and staff afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation…