BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Brevard County teacher who had been arrested in connection with a teen house party was placed on administrative leave at her new job after body camera video showing the night of the party was released, according to district officials.
Brevard Public Schools said on Tuesday that Karly Anderson, who started a new teaching position Monday at Saturn Elementary School in Cocoa, was placed on leave with pay “following the discovery and review of newly released body camera footage related to her initial arrest.”
Anderson, who was fired in January from her third-grade teaching job at Roosevelt Elementary School, along with former Roosevelt Elementary School Principal Elizabeth Hill-Brodigan, was arrested when Cocoa Beach police said 100 teens — ages 13 to 17 — came to a “white lie” party at the principal’s house.
Police recommended charges for the two women, including child neglect, but the state attorney’s office settled on prosecuting Anderson for misdemeanor charges - disorderly conduct and disorderly intoxication.
The district released the following statement on Monday on Anderson starting a new position at Saturn Elementary: “The State Attorney cleared Karly Anderson of the felony charges. Department of Children and Family Services cleared Ms. Anderson as well. She’s a certified teacher and as of today she’s been placed by the district back into a classroom.”
However, on Tuesday, the district said “the body camera footage was not made available to the district prior to placing her back in the classroom on the morning of April 14th.”
“All employees are held to the highest standard of professional behavior and BPS will continue to follow all policies and procedures to ensure a fair and thorough review of this new information. The teacher’s actions as seen on the footage were completely unacceptable and do not match the charges given and warrant a further investigation,” Superintendent Mark Rendell said in a release.
On the body camera video, Anderson is seen cursing at one of the officers about first responders treating intoxicated minors.
“I’m concerned about a child that’s being put into a machine, into one of these vehicles, and it’s not my [expletive] business,” Anderson shouted. “Cocoa Beach has gone [expletive] mad and nasty!”
The officer is also heard on camera telling Anderson, “You’re here with your boss having a party with 200 kids who are drinking.”
On Tuesday, Brevard County School Board Member Matt Susin spoke about Anderson’s removal, and called her actions “deplorable” and “disgusting,” and the district was not made aware of the bodycam video prior to its release.
“We are going to be hosting our own individual investigation and moving forward with seeing if this teacher who exhibited deplorable actions with not only law enforcement, but others, did something that we do not accept with our BPS staff in any way,” Susin said. “We are going to have an investigation to see if that individual was a part of the actual party and move from there.”
[WATCH THE FULL BODY CAMERA VIDEO BELOW]
