According to PEOPLE, a Florida middle school teacher is expected to face harassment charges after allegedly writing a letter to a female fifth-grade student.
Manatee County Sheriff Public Information Officer Randy Warren tells PEOPLE that “a harassment charge related to bullying will be filed soon” against the former fifth-grade teacher, who resigned from the Manatee County School District shortly after the investigation started.
This week, WFLA, WJBF, and KARK reported that the parents of the teacher’s former 11-year-old student discovered the alleged letter. The teacher has not been identified because no criminal charges have been filed against him, according to the media outlets.
In a copy of the letter, the teacher allegedly wrote to the girl: “You know I truly love you no matter what, and that will never change.”
The letter was signed off with “love,” followed by the teacher’s name. The teacher’s alleged letter also requested that the fifth grader keep the correspondence confidential.
According to WFLA, the 11-year-old student’s family was shocked and concerned when the note was discovered.
“Incredibly upsetting as a father,” the girl’s father, Jason Mitchell, told the news outlet.
Jason and Ann Mitchell, the girl’s parents, told WFLA that they then handed over the letter to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
“As a father, where does your mind go next? What did that open the door for in your mind?” the girl’s father asked the outlet.
“What can I do legally to express my frustration at receiving something like this? “What else could he have done to my daughter?”
Michael Barber, Director of Communications for the School District of Manatee County, told WFLA that the teacher was initially “reassigned to a non-instructional facility where he had no contact with students.”
After Barber informed WFLA that “the district also notified the Florida Department of Children and Families, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Professional Practices” about the incident, the teacher resigned.
