Report: Cocoa Beach Athletic Director ran concession for profit

Don Blackmon, 44, resigned citing 'personal reasons'

COCOA BEACH, Fla. – Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High School's athletic director operated a school concession stand for his own profit using the school's facilities, according to a school district investigation.

Local 6 news partner Florida Today reports Don Blackmon, 44, resigned effective this week, citing personal reasons. He had been placed on after paid administrative leave.

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"It happened on more than one occasion, over a period of a couple years," said Debra Pace, Brevard Public School's associate superintendent for human resources. "It was just recently discovered."
Blackmon apparently opened the concession stand without authorization and without paying the facility use fee, and then operated it as a profit-making entity, Pace said.

The district was tipped off by a new administrator responsible for the school's facilities. District officials said they are not pursuing criminal charges at this time, in part because there are no accounting records, Pace said.
"There's no accounting of what he spent on materials for the concession stand, as well as what he would have earned," Pace said. "We can only guess."
Brevard Public School's ethics policy prohibits the use of an employee's position with the district for personal gain.

Blackmon did recently make a donation, of less than $200, to the college-prep International Baccalaureate program at the school, Pace said.

A review of Blackmon's personnel file, which is public under Florida's public record laws, shows that Blackmon rose quickly within the school's ranks after being hired as a teacher in 2004, Florida Today reports.


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