Sheriff's investigation cleared teacher accused of abusing her students
John A. Torres
An investigation conducted by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office last year concluded that allegations of child abuse against an elementary school ESE teacher were unfounded.
The report has not deterred an Orlando law firm from filing a civil rights lawsuit in federal court against the teacher, Stacey Garzione and the school district a few days before Thanksgiving.
Sheriff's agent Joe Martin — with assistance from other agents and deputies — conducted the investigation in the weeks following a complaint made in February, 2019 against Garzione.
The allegations made by substitute teacher Maren Caldwell include instances of taunting, pinning students in their desk chairs, kneeling on a student restrained by compression mats, used her cellphone to record video of students, spraying Lysol on pencils to prevent students from biting them and using painful techniques on students' hands and armpits that leave no bruising.
But Martin's investigation revealed the compression mat was used on one student as part of his IEP or Individualized Education Program, that techniques on armpits and hands are techniques to make a difficult individual stand up and that Garzione denied taunting students and the other allegations.
She admitted to spraying disinfectant on pencils in order to keep students from getting sick and she was warned against using her cell phone to record students in the classroom.
"There was no evidence to indicate Ms. Garzione violated any Florida Statutes or BPS Policy regarding her students," Martin concluded in his report. "The educational environment she had created in her classroom was consistent with her advanced education/training with children with Autism and with students with learning disabilities, which had been identified by the OT and other professional witnesses."
The case has resulted in two separate lawsuits. Garzione is suing Caldwell for defamation while an Orlando attorney is suing the district and Garzione on behalf of five students and their families claiming "physical, emotional and psychological abuse."
But after conducting numerous interviews with staff and experts, Martin found that Caldwell and two other instructional aides — Janice Tessari and Jodi Herring — acted unprofessionally or unethically, while clearing Garzione.
In a memorandum dated February 18, 2019, Principal Wesley Herold wrote that Caldwell had notified him that she contacted parents and told them: "Stacey Garzione is not mentally stable and needs professional help;" "Stacey should be in jail;" "My dad came to install security cameras because Stacey is crazy and I am afraid she will do something to me."
Herold said he informed Caldwell that she should not be talking about the case as it was being investigated.
Garzione's lawsuit claims Caldwell never expressed any concern about her teaching style and only made the allegations after Garzione and another teacher ordered Caldwell to leave the classroom for improperly addressing a student they were trying to calm.
According to the report, Caldwell then spoke with other instructional aides about Garzione before making her complaint. Martin found the three women to have acted unprofessionally and unethically for not reporting suspected child abuse immediately.
Tessari told investigators she never came forward because she felt no one would believe her. Herring later retracted her initial statement claiming she felt pressured to make it.
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In an interview Tuesday, Aaron Carter Bates, the families' lawyer, said he gave the BCSO report little credence saying his investigators did their "due diligence" over a four to five month investigation.
"In my almost 20 years of almost exclusively suing government entities is that the smaller the county the smaller the bed that you find the county and law enforcement in together," Bates said. "The school district is not separated from the county in the way you would see in Miami-Dade or Orange County or elsewhere."
"I'm not in the business of bringing suits I don't think will be successful," he added.
After being cleared by the district, Garzione requested a transfer from Williams Elementary School and now trains other ESE teachers in the district.
Contact Torres at 321-242-3684 or at jtorres@floridatoday.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FTjohntorres.