A former social studies teacher at a Boynton Beach charter school in Florida is barred from teaching in the state after he was accused of offering an 18-year-old student test answers if she sent him nude photos of herself.
The state revoked the teaching license of Christopher Fisher, 31, who worked at Quantum High School. The state also reprimanded and fined one of Fisher's colleagues, Khemrajee Kangal, 57, for failing to report the incident when the student told her about it.
Neither Fisher nor Kangal could be reached for comment.
Quantum High is a school for students at risk of dropping out. It allows them to work at their own pace on computer-based courses at the Boynton campus. According to the complaint filed with the state, in August 2016, Fisher asked the student to send nude photos of herself in exchange for a password to the school’s testing site, where test answers were available.
Principal David Ferguson, who wasn’t principal at the time, declined to comment on the details, deferring to his previously published comments in local news stories.
In those comments, Ferguson said that the student told two teachers about the incident, and one of the teachers alerted the principal. The principal suspended Fisher that day, and Fisher, who had been at the school a year, resigned the next day, Ferguson said.
It's unclear from the complaint whether the student ever sent any photos. Regardless, the school notified the state's Department of Children and Families and the Department of Education, Ferguson said.
At a hearing in Fort Lauderdale on April 11, the state’s education commission revoked Fisher’s teaching certificate and banned him from ever seeking another in the state. The next day, a panel issued a reprimand to Kangal, fined her $750 and ordered her to take a course in identifying and reporting child abuse and negligence.
“The employee stated that she advised the student to report the matter to the principal and to inform the student’s mother of what happened,” Ferguson said in a statement issued earlier this week. “The principal advised the employee that she did not follow state law or the school policy when she failed to directly report the matter to the principal. The employee apologized for failing to report the matter.”
"We have no more comments. We're moving forward," Ferguson said.
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