A high-profile disciplinary case against an Alachua County teacher abruptly stalled this week after an administrative law judge closed the file, granting a request from state education officials to take a step back and “conduct further investigation.”
The order, issued Monday by Judge Yolonda Green, marks a significant procedural turn in the case against Lauren Watts, a social studies teacher at Gainesville High School.
The controversy began in August when Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas issued an administrative complaint against Watts regarding incidents from the 2022-2023 school year. The state alleged Watts allowed a student to be disparaged by classmates who suggested he was a “Hitler sympathizer.” Furthermore, the complaint accused Watts of presenting the student with a mock certificate in front of peers declaring him the “most likely member of the class to become a dictator.” The state claimed this was based on the student’s conservative comments…