At least a dozen cases of teacher misconduct lead to arrests, lawsuits, and parent outcry.
By Josh Salman/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: December 17, 2025
Host: In the past two years, the School District of Manatee County has faced a series of allegations about teachers and staff physically or sexually mistreating students. The fallout from these incidents contributed to the dismissal of Superintendent Jason Wysong this summer. Suncoast Searchlight and the Bradenton Herald teamed up to investigate, and Josh Salman with Suncoast Searchlight has the details.
Josh Salman: Recent arrests range from an elementary school resource teacher over possession of child sexual abuse materials and footage of sexual activity with an animal, to a middle school teacher over sending explicit images to a student, to a high school teacher and football coach over alleged advances toward teenage students.
Manatee School Board Member Charlie Kennedy said: “There was definitely a time…where I’m like, ‘What’s going on in this county?’ It just was one after the other—it keeps coming.”
At least a dozen incidents have led to arrests, costly lawsuits against the district, and outcry from parents. They contend the administration did not do enough to protect kids.
Jason Wysong
By spring, the pressure had reached a tipping point. Allegations emerged at B.D. Gullett Elementary that a teacher showed inappropriate affection toward a student. Amid concerns about his lack of communication, this case cost then-Superintendent Jason Wysong his job.
More cases have since followed.
The district is supposed to vet potential hires through background checks, reference checks and screening questionnaires. Should warning signs emerge after hiring, the district’s policies require staff to report to the district and state any potential boundary violations. Those can range from spending unusual time alone with a student to sending students private letters.
But in multiple cases, the district’s safeguards didn’t work as intended. Missed warnings and weak follow-through left students vulnerable.
Photo by Tiffany Tompkins, Bradenton Herald via Suncoast Searchlight
Reporters at Suncoast Searchlight and the Bradenton Herald spent four months examining more than half a dozen of these high-profile cases, combing through hundreds of pages of district personnel files, civil lawsuits and police reports. Reporters also studied school guidelines and interviewed parents, experts and school officials about lapses in the system.
The investigation found that those involved in hiring decisions overlooked potential red flags. Two applicants answered screening questions in ways that should have halted the process. Two teachers were hired even when their out-of-state references could not be reached.
In some cases, the district either missed or ignored early warnings of inappropriate behavior. At one school, families allege a teacher’s aide was able to molest multiple children after a parent’s earlier complaint about the staffer’s inappropriate conduct was allegedly dismissed. A top sheriff’s captain said incidents were not being reported to law enforcement.
Two students of Manatee Elementary School make their way through the halls on a cool Wednesday morning in 2022. Photo by Tiffany Tompkins, Bradenton Herald via Suncoast Searchlight
District staff had not had Title IX training in recent years. Title IX is a federal law that outlines procedures to report and investigate incidents. Officials pointed to a video-based course as evidence of instruction but declined to make it available to reporters.
After red flags were overlooked and application processes ignored, the district seemingly addressed misconduct incidents as they came up, instead of taking a more proactive and comprehensive approach. New leadership is working to reinforce background checks and reporting procedures as well as to improve communication.
In a statement to reporters, district spokesperson Jamie Carson said: “We have new leadership, and our leaders are committed to the highest standards.”
Superintendent Laurie Breslin was hired in August for the district’s top job. She acknowledged areas for improvement. Photo by Tiffany Tompkins, Bradenton Herald via Suncoast Searchlight
Superintendent Laurie Breslin was hired in August for the district’s top job after an extensive career within the district. She acknowledged areas for improvement, like improving communication and reinforcing Title IX training.
But, in one of two sit-down interviews with reporters, Breslin said that the wrongdoings of a few do not reflect the district as a whole.
The allegations in Manatee County come amid a rise in school-based child abuse nationwide. Researchers estimate one in 10 students nationally will experience misconduct from an educator between kindergarten through high school graduation.
Even in neighboring Sarasota County Schools, there have been at least two cases this year, including a former Reserve Officers’ Training Corps instructor at Venice High arrested after students said they were inappropriately touched, and a security aide at Booker High who allegedly moved a student into his home and sexually abused her.
To be sure, the misconduct cases reviewed by the media organizations represent a small sample. The insights, while valuable, cannot explain the full scope or root causes of the pattern of teacher misconduct across the Manatee County School District.
G.D. Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary School. Photo by Tiffany Tompkins, Bradenton Herald via Suncoast Searchlight
And the fact that staffers accused of misconduct are being identified and arrested could be viewed as a sign that problems are indeed being addressed.
Pat Barber is the president of the Manatee Education Association, the union that represents Manatee County teachers and paraprofessionals. She pointed to the safeguards and consequences that are in place.
But experts told us that, with so many cases, it’s imperative that administrators not only remove abusers but overhaul the culture to prevent future issues.
Carol Shakeshaft, professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, has studied school abuse for decades.
Shakeshaft said: “The culture of the school needs to be such that if you see something like this, you intervene because you could keep a child from being harmed. That’s what’s not happening at our schools. We’re not stopping them once they cross the first boundaries.”
Reporting for Suncoast Searchlight, Josh Salman. Bradenton Herald associate editor Ryan Ballogg and reporters Carter Weinhofer and Michael Moore, Jr. contributed to this report. To read the full report and its findings, go to suncoastsearchlight.org/manatee-county-schools-teacher-misconduct-cases-breakdown.
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