Broward teacher accused of molesting student fired
A Broward teacher who has faced repeated allegations of acting inappropriately with students was fired Tuesday, nearly two years after being arrested on charges he molested a 12-year-old girl.
Wyman Gresham, 50, also was accused of being inappropriate with two other girls, ages 16 and 13. He was removed from his job as a reading teacher at Lauderhill 6-12 on Dec. 13, 2017. He was arrested on Feb. 22, 2018.
A condition of his arrest was that he could have no conduct with children other than members of his family, making him ineligible to teach underage kids.
He remained for two years at the district’s book depository, a holding center for employees under investigation where they have no contact with students. He continued to collect his $56,378 annual teacher salary.
A major reason Gresham kept his job was because he hasn’t been to trial yet, said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union. His criminal case is still pending, and nothing about his legal status has changed since February 2018.
The School Board was waiting for the criminal case to end but decided to move forward because they couldn’t fill his teaching position until Gresham was removed from the payroll.
Gresham’s lawyer, Samantha Vacciana, asked the School Board to keep him in book depository.
“When all facts are in place, accurate facts, you may have a different position,” she said.
The phone number listed for Gresham was disconnected.
Board member Rosalind Osgood said she supported firing Gresham because of his history, including a state reprimand and five-suspension.
“If strong action had been taken before, maybe we wouldn’t be at this point now,” she said.
On Dec. 4, 2017, a 12-year-old girl at Lauderhill 6-12 reported to school officials that Gresham “often hugs her and rubs her butt when he hugs her” and “often
sticks his tongue out at her in a sexual manner,” according to a Lauderhill police report.
The report also said two other girls, ages 16 and 13, had inappropriate interactions with Gresham. One said he walked up behind her and rubbed on her hip area; the other said he rubbed her back in a way that made her uncomfortable.
At least one of the girls said that Gresham, after learning she had reported him to school officials and police, said he asked her to protect him so he wouldn’t lose his job, the police report said.
Gresham’s troubles in the district date to March 1998, when he was a campus monitor at New River Middle in Fort Lauderdale. According to a state complaint, he offered a 13- or 14-year-old female student
money “if she would strip for him and perform sexual acts.”
The state report said he was transferred to another school following the incident.
Gresham later was hired as a teacher, and during the 2001-02 school year, he “engaged a female student in inappropriate conversations concerning the student’s personal problems” and inappropriately touched a student in the hip area, the state report said.