Case Name: Donald G. BRADDOCK, Appellant, v. SCHOOL BOARD OF NASSAU COUNTY, Florida, and Craig Marsh, Superintendent of Schools, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1984-06-19
Citations: 455 So. 2d 394
Docket Number: No. AU-128
Parties: Donald G. BRADDOCK, Appellant, v. SCHOOL BOARD OF NASSAU COUNTY, Florida, and Craig Marsh, Superintendent of Schools, Appellee.
Judges: BOOTH and SHIVERS, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 455
Pages: 394–398

Head Matter:
Donald G. BRADDOCK, Appellant, v. SCHOOL BOARD OF NASSAU COUNTY, Florida, and Craig Marsh, Superintendent of Schools, Appellee.
No. AU-128.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
June 19, 1984.
Rehearing Denied Aug. 22, 1984.
Philip J. Padovano, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Brian T. Hayes, Monticello, for appellee.

Opinion:
JOANOS, Judge.
Braddoek, a continuing contract teacher and coach, appeals from an order of dismissal of the Nassau County School Board. The stated basis for the dismissal was that Braddoek violated the provisions of Florida Administrative Code Rule 6B-4.09(3), which is defined as a violation of the Code of Ethics of the Education Profession, Department of Education, in that his conduct "represented not only poor judgment . but such conduct and behavior was [sic] so serious as to impair his effectiveness as a teacher in the Nassau County school system." The issue with which we are here concerned is whether there is in the record competent substantial evidence to support the Board's finding that Braddock's conduct and behavior were of such character as to result in a diminution of his effectiveness as a teacher. We conclude that there is not.
On April 28, 1983, Superintendent Marsh suspended Braddoek with pay from his position as teacher and coach at Fernandina Beach High School. A hearing was held before the school board on May 12,1983, at which time Braddock's suspension was confirmed pending the outcome of a final hearing. On May 23, 1983, pursuant to Section 231.36, Florida Statutes, Braddoek was formally charged with three specific instances of misconduct:
(1) that at approximately 2:00 a.m. on March 11, 1983, Braddoek met and spent time with one of his minor female students;
(2) that during the spring 1983 track season, following a track meet, Braddoek left the same minor female student at a convenience store while he transported other students to their home — Braddoek then returned and picked up the minor female student who rode alone with him to her home; and
(3) that on April 27, 1983, the same student rode alone with Braddoek to Fer-nandina Beach where they spent the afternoon together, not accompanied by other persons.
Testimony at the final hearing demonstrated that each of these meetings was arranged by the student — who was infatuated with Braddoek. On March 11, 1983, the student called Braddoek from a friend's mobile home, urging him to come and talk to her. She was extremely upset because her brother had been injured in a motorcycle accident and had to be airlifted to a Jacksonville hospital. (Sometime prior to these events, the student's mother had been killed in an auto accident.) The student's parents (father and stepmother) were at the hospital with her brother. The student called Braddoek three times in close succession, urging him to come because she needed to talk to someone. Two witnesses, the student's friend and Braddock's roommate, testified that Braddoek was reluctant to respond to the student's request. Finally, after the third phone call, Braddoek drove to the mobile home where the student was spending the night. The student met him outside, and they rode and talked in Braddock's car for approximately thirty minutes. The testimony is not clear concerning the exact time Braddoek left the student. At her direction, Braddoek took her to a pay phone in the area of the mobile home. Braddoek left her there, after she told him that her friend would pick her up. The student testified that she did not really call her friend because she needed time alone to think things through. After walking for a while, she returned to the mobile home, arriving there at approximately 4:00 a.m.
The two other incidents listed in the formal charge occurred when Braddoek gave the student a ride home from a track meet, and when the student called Braddoek from school and asked him to take her home because she had missed her ride. With regard to the track meet episode, Braddoek was transporting four or five students. He stopped at a convenience store and the student got out of the car — telling Brad dock she would call someone to pick her up. Braddock took the other students home, then stopped by the convenience store on the way back. The student was still there, so Braddock offered to drive her home. The final incident concerned a phone call from the student, who was still at school, to Braddock. She asked him for a ride home. On that day, Braddock agreed to take her home, but told her he had errands to run first. One of those errands required a trip to the beach to deliver a message to Braddock's roommate.
Braddock was a track coach, and most of his contacts with this student arose as a consequence of her membership on the track team. This student and other members of the team were permitted by their parents to participate in track only if transportation home after track events and practices were provided. The record reflects that this student, and others, turned to Braddock for counseling with personal problems. The record further reflects no evidence of sexual misconduct in Braddock's meetings with this student, nor did the Superintendent or the Board make any such allegation.
After hearing all the testimony, the Board decided that the facts would not support the definition of misconduct in Code of Ethics Rule 6B-1.02(2), which provides:
In fulfilling his or her obligations to the student, the educator (c) shall make reasonable effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to learning or to health and safety.
(f) shall not use professional relationships with students for private advantages.
Instead, the Board decided to define "misconduct" as "activity or behavior that is so serious that it impairs the effectiveness of the individual in the school system." The Final Order of Dismissal incorporates the Board-drafted definition of misconduct, with the comment that this definition is "based upon Florida Administrative Code Chapter 6B-4.09(3) and Rules of the Department of Education, Educational Standards Commission, Chapter 6B-1, Code of Ethics ."
There is no question that the Board based its action of dismissal on proper grounds. Still, our responsibility on review of administrative action is to determine whether there is in the record competent substantial evidence to support the agency's action. Section 120.68(10), Florida Statutes (1983); Boyette v. State Professional Practices Council, 346 So.2d 598, 600 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977). At the hearing, the Board found that the facts would not support an allegation that Braddock's misconduct in office constituted a use of his professional relationship with the student for private advantage. The Board then defined misconduct in office as "behavior so serious as to impair the effectiveness of the individual in the school system." Despite this effort to conform the ground for dismissal to the evidence, no testimony was offered that suggested that Braddock's effectiveness as a teacher and coach had been impaired in any way. While we must agree that this teacher's conduct demonstrated poor judgment on his part, the Board made no finding that Braddock's effectiveness with the school system had been impaired by virtue of the three incidents with which he was charged. As this court noted in Wray v. Dept, of Prof. Regulation, 435 So.2d 312, 315 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), even if the effectiveness issue had been properly charged as a violation, there still must be competent substantial evidence on that issue in the record to support a finding of guilty. Here, there was no evidence or finding that Braddock's effectiveness as a teacher and coach was diminished or impaired in any way.
For the foregoing reasons we have determined that the School Board's order dismissing Braddock was not supported by competent substantial evidence. Therefore, the order dismissing Braddock is REVERSED.
BOOTH and SHIVERS, JJ., concur.