Stoneman Douglas coaches lose jobs
Pair were also employed as security monitors on campus
Two coaches criticized for their inaction during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre won’t return to the Broward County School District this fall, becoming the first district employees to lose their jobs as a result of the Feb. 14 shooting.
Assistant baseball coaches Andrew Medina and David Taylor initially were on the district’s list to be reappointed to their full-time jobs as security monitors. But on Tuesday, Superintendent Robert Runcie told the School Board the two wouldn’t be on that list. Instead, they would no longer have jobs with the district as of Sunday, when the new fiscal year starts.
Runcie wouldn’t give details of his decision, saying the school district is still conducting a review of what happened at the Parkland school.
Medina, who was not armed, was the first to see killer Nikolas Cruz walk onto the campus. He told investigators shortly after the shooting that he didn’t confront Cruz or lock down the school. Instead, Medina said he radioed ahead to warn Taylor that a
suspicious kid was headed his way. Taylor hid in a closet.
Both were reassigned after a video of Medina’s testimony was released.
Russell Williams, who is representing Medina and Taylor, said his clients were treated unfairly. He said Medina wasn’t told until after the School Board vote that he would be recommended for non-appointment.
‘What kind of due process is that? We could have at least been there to argue points,” Williams said.
Tuesday’s action avoided what was likely to be a heated conversation over the district’s handling of another disciplinary matter involving Medina.
In February 2017, he was accused of sexual harassment by two 17-year-old high school students. One of the accusers was Meadow Pollack, who died in the Feb. 14 shooting.
The district’s investigation of Medina concluded that he asked out one female student and whispered to another: “You are fine as f---.” He offered to take one of the students out for drinks, the investigation said.
“Both students became so uncomfortable with Mr. Medina’s comments and actions, they sought out different routes to their classes in an attempt to avoid him,” says the report, prepared by Robert Spence, a detective with the district’s Special Investigative Unit.
A discipline committee of district employees recommended unanimously that he be fired, but Human Resources Chief Craig Nichols, acting as Runcie’s representative, instead gave Medina a three-day suspension. Nichols told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday that he didn’t make the decision alone. He didn’t elaborate, referring to a previously released district statement.
“After consultation and advice from Special Investigative Unit leadership and district legal counsel, the appropriate discipline was determined to be a threeday suspension,” the statement said. “This decision was primarily based on the facts that there was no direct evidence to distinguish between the conflicting statements provided by the students and the employee, there was no inappropriate physical contact, and there was no record of any previous discipline for the employee.”
However, General Counsel Barbara Myrick told the Sun Sentinel on Tuesday that her office “recommended he should be terminated.” She said she didn’t know who made the ultimate call to suspend him instead. “It wasn’t our office.”
The School Board approved the suspension in December, although Runcie and several School Board members said they didn’t know the details of the case when they agreed to the discipline.
“I certainly take responsibility for not looking at that closer, but it was never referred to as sexual harassment. I think that’s something that came up in the media. It was titled inappropriate conduct,” Runcie said. “Nevertheless, we’re going to learn from that and figure out how we can learn from these cases going forward.”
The proposed reappointment of Medina, which was included on the agenda released Thursday, generated anger on social media.
“Last time they voted to overrule the discipline committee. They said it was ... not properly explained. If the Broward School Board approves Monitor Medina after he harassed students, offered them alcohol, told them to cover up, and failed to do job on 2-14, they are nuts,” tweeted County Commissioner Michael Udine, former mayor of Parkland.
The school went through another shakeup in its coaching staff last week when the district reassigned head football coach Willis May. The district said it had nothing to do with the shooting but declined to give a reason.