Boynton principal resigned ahead of being fired
Former Boynton Beach High School Principal Guarn Sims feared losing his job, his income and his prestige in the community if his affair with one of the school’s teachers was discovered, according to an investigation released by the Palm Beach County School District.
His worst fears appear to have been realized. Sims, 49, resigned last month before he could be terminated by the School Board on Wednesday. He had worked for the school district for 24 years, 14 as a school principal.
An investigative report released late Friday by the school district says Sims threatened retaliation against the female teacher after their relationship ended in hostile emails and two certified letters with similar content. He threatened to have
her reassigned from Boynton Beach High if she told school district officials about the affair.
“I do not want to end my career surrounded by scandal, especially on my school campus,” he wrote to the teacher in one email. “This would be devastating to me financially and professionally. I cannot afford to make any less money than I’m making now as a high school principal.”
Sims, who is married, could not be reached for comment Monday despite a call to his cellphone. He earned about $103,000 last year.
The teacher, whose name is blacked out in the report, said their affair ended in June.
The district found Sims violated several policies, including creating a trustworthy environment, when he threatened to move the teacher to another site and drafted a fictitious letter from an anonymous staffer to have the teacher blamed for unspecified mistakes.
The affair was one of several problems the district found at C-rated Boynton Beach High School under Sims’ leadership. The investigative file included a May letter to the district from an anonymous teacher, who reported the school is unsafe and “no one wants to be here.”
“I am afraid to come to work here,” the teacher wrote. “Students, at will, wander in and out of classes with little to no supervision. The level of disrespect is overwhelming. Drugs and weapons have become the norm, and when reported directly to the principal, not only will he not follow through, he ignores the staff’s pleas for assistance. Discipline referrals are useless because the offenders are returned to class (after being counseled, whatever that means), even after physically assaulting faculty, which happens almost daily.”
The school district did not reply to a request for comment about the teacher’s allegations.
The teacher also said Sims, who is black, favored black staffers, encouraged students and staff to pray, and bragged about faculty attending church with him.
The report included an invitation to the school’s “support team,” from Sims’ school district account, to attend St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Boynton Beach with Sims in February. He said participants would have a breakfast meeting at the Golden Corral restaurant in Boynton Beach after the service. The report showed a tab for $199.89 from Golden Corral.
Sims has served as principal at the high school for the past year. He has also been principal at Royal Palm Beach High, Lantana Middle School, Village Academy in Delray Beach and Galaxy Elementary in Boynton Beach.
Sims has been reprimanded by the school district in the past. In 2009, he received a verbal reprimand following a school police investigation into unauthorized purchases on a district issued Visa card.