TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – An administrative law judge this week closed a high-profile case involving discipline against an Alachua County teacher, after state Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas requested an opportunity to “conduct further investigation” and take other steps.
The order issued Monday by Judge Yolonda Green came in a case involving teacher Lauren Watts.
Kamoutsas on Aug. 21 issued an administrative complaint and what is known as a finding of probable cause, after the student’s mother raised concerns at a State Board of Education meeting. The administrative complaint said that during the 2022-2023 school year, Watts, a social-studies teacher at Gainesville High School, allowed the student to be disparaged by other students when they suggested he was a “Hitler sympathizer.”…