School Supt. Maier: Fire teacher who drowned raccoons (Ocala Star-Banner, Washington Post)

This school teacher allegedly forced agricultural students to drown two raccoons and an opossum.  Animal torture is NOT on the approved secondary school curriculum in Florida. Superintendent recommends firing. Requires a hearing.  But this misguided Ocala school teacher needs a psychiatrist.  And those kids need therapy, too.

How many parents send their kids off to school thinking their children will be forced to murder small animals by an authoritarian teacher threatening "referrals" if they exercised their civil and constiutional rights to video record it?

Why did this happen?

Proud of these kids for speaking out and documenting animal abuse.

I once saw a sadistic South Jersey Catholic day camp counsellor torture and kill a frog before our eyes on a "hike."

We had no cell phone cameras at the Holy Child Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) Day Camp in Blackwood, N.J. circa 1970. Thus, we had no way to act on our concerns.

Technology is forcing change, exposing wrongdoers every single day.  Ever since the Rodney King beating, we've been watching video.  Keep taping.  Ask questions.  Demand answers.  Expect democracy, and better days.

HIDE CAPTION

Forest High School agriculture teacher Dewie Brewton. [File Photo]

By Joe Callahan 

Posted May 16, 2018 at 9:42 AMUpdated at 8:52 AM

  

‘Marion County Public Schools is appalled’ by teacher Dewie Brewton’s actions, according to a district statement.

School Superintendent Heidi Maier is recommending that the Forest High School agri-science teacher who enlisted students to help him drown two nuisance raccoons and an opossum be fired.

“Marion County Public Schools is appalled” by teacher Dewie Brewton’s actions, the school district said in a statement issued late Wednesday afternoon. “Marion County’s education standards — in fact, Florida’s education standards — do not include activities for the destruction of live animals, nuisance or not. While law enforcement determines whether this teacher’s actions were legal or not, his actions before students are entirely unacceptable and cause us great concern.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating. So is the Florida Department of Health.

“Regardless of the investigative outcomes, Superintendent Dr. Heidi Maier is recommending termination,” the district statement says. The School Board will have the final say.

Brewton, who has been the school’s FFA leader since 2006, was put on paid leave Tuesday. He is accused of drowning an opossum and two raccoons that were suspected of killing a chicken that his students were raising at the school.

A 14-second video, first released by WKMG-Channel 6 news in Orlando, has surfaced on web pages of many news outlets nationwide. The video shows students pouring water into large garbage cans, getting ready to kill the animals.

The raccoons, which had been caught in wire traps, were lowered into the water-filled cans.

Today in History

The mother of a Forest freshman contacted authorities after her son came home Monday and told her what happened. The woman, whose name was not released, told Channel 6 that her son was upset.

“The raccoons tried to come up for air. (The teacher and students) had metal rods and they held them down with metal rods and when the raccoon would try to pop its head up they held water hoses in its face to drown it,” the mother told Channel 6.

The Forest High School FFA Alumni Chapter came out in support of Brewton.

“He has always gone above and beyond his call of duty to ensure that his students had everything they needed,” the chapter wrote on its Facebook page. “He has spent late nights, weekends and has provided around the clock support for his club and for his school.”

The chapter calls Brewton “a man who would give everything he had to make sure that his children/students are taken care of.”

The majority of comments on social media are far less positive. Dozens of comments on the Star-Banner’s Facebook posting of the story state that Brewton was cruel.

“Isn’t there enough violence in schools?” local resident Karen Black asked in a Facebook post, which the Star-Banner is quoting with her permission. “Now we’re going to torture animals? How does that teach kids to treat humans with respect? Sickening.”

The story has received wide attention, even getting play in the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s website, “live-captured nuisance wildlife must be released legally or euthanized humanely within 24 hours of capture or trap inspection.”

For guidance on legal release, the website says:

“Native nuisance wildlife may be released on the property of the landowner where captured provided the release site and capture site are located on one contiguous piece of property. Native nuisance wildlife may be released off the capture site if the release site is a minimum of 40 contiguous acres, located in the same county as the capture site, and the person releasing the nuisance wildlife has in their possession written permission from the landowner of the release site allowing release on their property. Nuisance wildlife may not be released on federal, state, county, local or private lands without written permission of the landowner.”

For guidance on allowable euthanasia, the agency links to the Report of the American Veterinary Medical Association Panel on Euthanasia. That document includes drowning on its list of unacceptable primary methods of euthanasia.

Joe Callahan can be reached at 867-4113 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

Florida teacher accused of drowning raccoons in class placed on leave — and under investigation

By Kristine Phillips May 17 at 6:24 AM Email the author

 3:01

Fla. teacher on leave after being accused of drowning raccoons

A Florida teacher was placed on administrative leave after school officials were told that he had students help him drown wild raccoons during class.

A 14-second video published by CBS affiliate WKMG showed a group of students filling a tub of water using a hose and later keeping a trapped raccoon submerged. A mother told the TV station that her son, who shot the video, came home upset about what happened to the raccoons, including the one seen in the video, inside a metal wire trap.

The animals had reportedly been killing chickens that the students were raising for class.

Two raccoons and an opossum were killed Monday at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla., according to the mother, whom the station did not identify.

The teacher, Dewie Brewton, was placed on paid administrative leave with pay Tuesday while the school investigates, said Kevin Christian, spokesman for Marion County Public Schools. Christian said he couldn’t comment further, saying only that Brewton was placed on leave as part of standard protocol and that district officials did not have previous problems with Brewton in the 34 years he has worked on and off for the district.

In a subsequent statement, the district said it is investigating, as are two state agencies — but that “regardless of the investigative outcomes, Superintendent Dr. Heidi Maier is recommending termination.”

“Marion County Public Schools is appalled at the actions of an agri-science teacher accused of killing nuisance animals in front of students earlier this week,” the statement read. “Marion County’s education standards – in fact, Florida’s education standards — do not include activities for the destruction of live animals, nuisance or not. While law enforcement determines whether this teacher’s actions were legal or not, his actions before students are entirely unacceptable and cause us great concern.”

[This is a story about a stoned raccoon at a fire station]

It’s unclear if the incident involved any criminal acts, but law enforcement officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are also investigating. A separate Florida Department of Health investigation is also underway.

According to the conservation commission’s website, wildlife animals that are considered a nuisance can be caught using live traps, snares or firearms during daylight hours and where they’re allowed. Animals “must be released legally or euthanized humanely within 24 hours of capture or trap inspection,” according to the agency.

In the interview with WKMG, the mother said the incident made her “sick to my stomach.”

“When the raccoons tried to come up for air, they had metal rods and they held them down with metal rods. And when the raccoon would try to pop its head up, they held water hoses in its face to drown it,” she told WKMG.

Brewton, the teacher, is an adviser of the school’s Future Farmers of America club.

In a statement posted Tuesday on Facebook, the club’s alumni group defended Brewton, describing him as a teacher who worked hard for his students and who cared for the agriculture industry.

[He thought something was wrong with the raccoon. Then it stood on its hind legs.]

“We would like to say that we are 100% behind our advisor and everything he does for our children/students. This is a man who would give everything he had to make sure that his children/students are taken care of,” the Forest High School FFA Alumni Chapter said. “He has always gone above and beyond his call of duty to ensure that his students had everything they needed. He has spent late nights, weekends and has provided around the clock support for his club and for his school.”

The chapter also criticized coverage of the incident, saying the media will “escalate” the situation “to lengths that are unnecessary.”

“We must focus on all of the extremely positive and life changing things that this man has done for the people,” the group said. “We must show our support for him in this time of need and show that we are one.”

People who commented on the Facebook post also came to Brewton’s defense, saying such actions were necessary to protect farms and keep livestock alive.

“This man’s reputation and livelihood are threatened by those who know nothing about the ag business,” one commenter wrote. “Raccoons are not cute little furry creatures. They are very destructive and dangerous. They can be rabid and you can be overrun with them in a short time.”