Divided Board Sends Bingham Back To Work

BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando County School Board voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve the settlement agreement reached last week by district officials and suspended Hernando High School teacher Shawn Bingham.
Bingham, who has been out of work since September after a student accused him of taking $75 out of a wallet, will return to work this month. However, he must accept two months without pay.
Bingham, 37, will lose about $7,500 from his $35,600-per-year salary, including additional supplemental income he would have received from coaching and working in the cafeteria during lunchtime.
The incident occurred Sept. 17 during a physical education class. Security footage retrieved from a video camera in the school's gym shows Bingham picking up a wallet off a bleacher, walking away from the bench and returning the wallet upon his return.
But the terms of last week's settlement maintain that Bingham did not steal money out of the wallet. Instead, he violated district policy by not taking the wallet to the front office, according to the settlement.
Vice chair Jim Malcolm and Pat Fagan objected to the settlement due to the length of suspension without pay, and said they felt Superintendent Wayne Alexander's offer was too harsh.
Malcolm pointed toward the recent suspension of Hernando County Human Resources Director Barbara Dupre, who was recently suspended without pay for five days due to insubordination and misconduct.
"At best, this (deserves) a letter of reprimand in his file, and at worst, five days without pay," he said.
However, since the board's only option was to accept or reject the settlement, the remaining three board members opted for the settlement.
"I think we need to take this at face value and get this man back to work as soon as possible," board member John Sweeney said. "Let's accept the agreement, move on and get to other matters."
Neither Bingham nor his attorney, Clearwater-based Mark Herdman, was present at the meeting.
The district is now responsible for the remainder of Bingham's back pay, as well as paying for the long-term substitute who has been teaching his physical education classes in his absence.
Bingham is also one of two defensive coordinators for the school's football team.
Alexander said after the afternoon meeting that he stood by his offer.
"I'm pleased with the compromise," he said. "I think it was fair and just."