State Sides With District In Spanking Incident

The school district will not be awarding back pay in the case of a Spring Hill bus driver who was disciplined after spanking a 4-year-old child with special needs on a bus last year.

Tuesday, the Hernando County School Board held a special meeting to adopt the recommended order of a Division of Administrative Hearings post-disciplinary hearing - requested by the driver and an attendant after both were suspended without pay - which sided with the district.

According to an arrest affidavit, the incident occurred in October, when Christopher O'Brien, 47, of Spring Hill, slapped the toddler on the right thigh for not staying in her seat and said, "You're gonna get a spanking right now. Do you understand me?"

O'Brien told deputies he did not slap the girl - who attended John D. Floyd Elementary School's prekindergarten program for students with special needs - but authorities say the incident was caught on a security tape.

The driver also did not notify transportation officials of the incident right away. School district officials found out about the incident from the child's mother and subsequently launched an investigation, DOAH officials found.

O'Brien was arrested on charges of misdemeanor battery and taken to the Hernando County Jail, where he posted $500 bail and was released. He was later briefly reassigned to office duties during the district's investigation.

In November, Superintendent Wayne Alexander recommended that O'Brien be reprimanded for his conduct and suspended without pay for five days. The driver's attendant, Angelo DiPaolo, was reprimanded and suspended without pay for three days.

Currently, physical discipline by support personnel is against the rules. The standard for discipline for support personnel is "just cause," and the school board has the authority to terminate and or suspend support employees.

Both are still employed by the district, though neither attended the board's meeting.

However, future matters may not go through the same process.

Longtime school board member and Vice Chairman Jim Malcolm brought up the financial impact of the board's current policy of turning disciplinary matters over to DOAH.

"I have no idea what we're going to be billed for this administrative hearing," he said. "I'm just wondering what our intent was to take less-serious charges and hear these matters (ourselves), like we do for suspensions."

The board will discuss the issue at a future workshop.