TALLAHASSEE — With state Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas vowing to prevent her from teaching again, an Alachua County teacher is fighting a disciplinary case that includes allegations she presented a certificate to a student that said he was the most likely to “become a dictator.”
Teacher Lauren Watts’ challenge went this week to the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, where a judge will be assigned to consider it. Watts’ attorneys disputed the state’s allegations, which also included that the teacher’s “conduct embarrassed and disparaged” the student.
“Each of these statements is false, intentionally misleading and not supported by the ‘investigation’ and are, therefore, in dispute,” Watts’ attorneys wrote in a Sept. 12 document known as an “election of rights,” which led to the Department of Education sending the case to the Division of Administrative Hearings on Wednesday…