Nature Coast Band Director Resigns

As expected, Nature Coast High School Technical High School band director Timothy Brightbill resigned Friday.

Brightbill signed resignation papers at the school district headquarters Friday afternoon, a human resources staffer said.

Brightbill resigned because it's in the best interest of his family and Nature Coast's students, Joe Vitalo, president of the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association, told Hernando Today on Thursday. The paper first reported Friday that Brightbill planned to resign.

He would likely have been suspended and almost certainly would have been fired after an investigation into actions that authorities say he admitted to, Vitalo has said.

The 42-year-old faces charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. The mother of a 17-year-old female student came home on Dec. 31 to find Brightbill and the girl together in her bedroom clad only in their underwear, police said. Brightbill admitted to engaging in sex acts with the girl that day and at his home one day last November.

The school district had been in the process of suspending Brightbill. He was deemed "absent without authorization" because he didn't report to work on Monday.

He was released from jail on Tuesday in lieu of a $20,000 bond.

Superintendent Wayne Alexander on Thursday called Brightbill's plan to resign "a good decision on his part."

Brightbill still faces an investigation by the state Department of Education. Sanctions could include the revocation of his teaching certificate and the loss of retirement benefits. He's been a teacher in Florida for 17 years, the last three in Hernando County.

Brightbill's first court appearance is slated for Jan. 27.