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.”
The administrative complaint alleged that Watts presented a certificate to the student in front of his peers “proclaiming (the student) the most likely member of the class to become a dictator, based on comments made by (the student) that respondent (Watts) interpreted to be conservative in nature. Respondent’s conduct embarrassed and disparaged (the student).”
But Watts disputed the allegations and challenged the potential discipline by the state, with the case going to the Division of Administrative Hearings last month.
In an Oct. 24 motion to dismiss the administrative complaint, attorneys for Watts argued that her due-process rights had been violated and pointed to issues such as Kamoutsas announcing in an Aug. 21 post on the social-media site X that he was taking action against Watts — days before she was formally notified.
“In the present case the Department (of Education) did not issue a notice of the allegations, nor an opportunity for an informal conference until well after the probable cause determination was made and her guilt and penalty was publicly posted on social media,” the motion to dismiss the administrative complaint said. “The allegations were over two years old and there is no need for willfully disregarding these procedural safeguards. The decision to proceed without following the department’s own statutory requirements appears to be an intentional decision, intended to cause the respondent (Watts) to effectively lose her ability to operate in her chosen profession without the required due process.”
An attorney for Kamoutsas on Nov. 5 responded by arguing against the motion to dismiss the administrative complaint. The response also requested approval to “withdraw and hold in abeyance” the administrative complaint.
The response said that would allow Kamoutsas an opportunity to “conduct further investigation” and provide Watts with an informal conference and an opportunity to respond. The request also said it would allow Kamoutsas, “after receiving submissions from respondent and other information obtained during further investigation” to “make a determination of probable cause.”
“If probable cause is found on the original administrative complaint or an amended administrative complaint, and respondent requests a formal hearing to dispute the allegations in the complaint, petitioner seeks leave to re-file the administrative complaint with DOAH (the Division of Administrative Hearings,” the request said.
Watts’ attorneys argued against the request.
“Given the department’s own procedurally and substantively defective attempt to bring the present action, and explicit bias against the respondent, the agency is not entitled to multiple attempts to correct its own investigation or prosecution errors when doing so undermines the procedural fairness of the process,” Watts’ attorneys wrote Nov. 7. “The burden of conducting a lawful investigation falls on the department, not the respondent. When the agency fails to do so due to its own actions, as has occurred in the present case, the consequence is dismissal, not indefinite attempts at prosecution.”
Green on Monday approved Kamoutsas’ request and relinquished the dispute to the state Education Practices Commission, which handles teacher disciplinary issues. But Green also quoted part of the request and wrote, “Petitioner (Kamoutsas) seems to suggest that probable cause was not providently found for the administrative complaint in this matter.”