Manatee County teacher’s aide resigns after student returns home with shaved eyebrows

A Manatee County teacher’s aide resigned earlier this year after a student returned home with shaved eyebrows.

The aide, Priscilla A. Ward, worked in a prekindergarten classroom at Samoset Elementary School when she accidentally left a razor in the class bathroom. The class was dedicated to exceptional student education, or ESE, a program that largely caters to students with physical, emotional or learning disabilities.

In a recent interview with the Bradenton Herald, Ward said she later realized that a student found the razor, but only after a parent called the school to complain that her child came home with shaved eyebrows.

“A four-year-old student found the razor and partially shaved (redacted) eyebrows and cut (redacted) fingertips with it,” the Manatee County School District said in its own report, detailing the incident from last May.

The incident likely happened during naptime, and the student was picked up immediately after, the report continues, explaining how neither Ward nor the teacher noticed the student’s eyebrows.

After a series of public record requests, the Bradenton Herald recently obtained the report, along with a previous investigation into Ward. Her coworkers described “odd” behavior in 2018, when she worked at Mills Elementary School.

At that time, a school employee accused Ward of “forcefully and aggressively” putting a student in time-out, while the school principal said Ward “placed her finger and toes in a child’s ear.”

Ward quickly denied both allegations during an interview on Tuesday.

The past concerns led school district leaders to issue Ward a reprimand letter and a school transfer. She faced no other discipline until this year, when the school district and local authorities began to investigate the bathroom razor.

Ward soon left her job, agreeing to never “reapply for any position with the School District of Manatee County in the future,” according to a resignation letter dated May 27.

In talking to the Bradenton Herald, Ward addressed the allegations that stained her nearly seven-year career as a teacher’s aide in various Manatee County schools.

‘My son has no eyebrows’

Commenting on the most recent incident, Ward said she used the class bathroom at Samoset Elementary to groom herself before leaving for a second job, and that she later returned to the classroom and found the razor — something she mistakenly left behind.

“At that time, I didn’t think anything of it, so I just put it in my purse,” Ward said. “Then the teacher I worked with got a call from a child’s mom who said, ‘My son has no eyebrows.’ In my head I thought, ‘OK, maybe during rest time he took scissors and cut his eyebrows off.’ I wouldn’t put it past that kid.”

“The parent came to the school and her child said it was a razor,” Ward continued. “That’s when I put two and two together. I didn’t want to get in trouble. I didn’t want people to think I did it on purpose, so that’s why I didn’t confess right away.”

According to the school district’s own investigation, Ward “denied having any knowledge of this happening or how it could have occurred.”

“A check of the restroom in the class did show some remnants of hair on the sink,” the district report states. “But there was no object present that would have been used to cause this.”

The report goes on to say that Ward “left the room for a few minutes while the parent was there,” and that Ward said she “needed to use the restroom.”

The assistant principal then checked surveillance cameras and saw Ward leaving the school “with a large purse that she placed into her car” before returning to campus. “She did not use the restroom as originally told,” the report continues.

“Yes, that happened,” Ward said on Tuesday. After finding the razor, placing it in her purse and then learning what happened to the student, she became scared and tried to hide the bag in her car.

But the next day, as the school was placing Ward on a temporary reassignment, she admitted to leaving the razor in a class restroom, the school district reported.

Ward told the Bradenton Herald she came forward to prevent the classroom teacher from getting in trouble.

“I felt bad because the teacher I work with literally had no clue and I didn’t want to bring her into it,” Ward said.

Three groups — the school district, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Child Protective Services (CPS) — were investigating the incident, leading Ward to submit her resignation in late May.

According to the school district’s July 6 report, law enforcement found no criminal violation. CPS, however, verified findings of child neglect against Ward.

The school district’s investigator, Troy Nelson, noted in his report that “Ms. Ward had no intention for a child to be harmed.” Echoing the findings by CPS, he then goes on to say that “her negligence resulted in this happening,” a comment she disputed to the Bradenton Herald.

“It’s not like I took the razor, held the kid down and shaved his eyebrows,” she said. “I don’t agree that’s neglect.”

Reports of ‘odd behavior’

The school district’s Office of Professional Standards opened its first investigation into Ward in January 2018, when she worked at Mills Elementary School as a teacher’s aide for ESE students.

Two school employees reported Ward for allegedly grabbing a 3-year-old student by the wrist, pulling the student across a room and placing the student “aggressively in a chair for a timeout.”

“She was also yelling at the student while this was happening,” the investigator’s report states.

The school principal, Jim Mennes, responded by contacting Florida’s abuse hotline. School employees are considered mandatory reporters under state law, meaning they have to notify authorities of suspected child abuse.

Nelson, the school district’s investigator, then spoke with the principal about Ward, who was removed from contact with students during the investigation.

“She is loud and tends to yell at the kids in the classroom,” Nelson wrote, summarizing comments from the principal. “She had some instances of odd behavior where she has placed her finger and toes in a child’s ear and when asked about it said she was just playing around with them.”

In the interview on Tuesday, Ward said she was baffled by the allegation that she touched a student with her toes.

“I never put my toes anywhere on the kids,” she said. “I don’t know where that came from. I would just poke the kids on the neck or the side, just to get them to laugh.”

During the 2018 review, the school district investigator also spoke with the two employees who reported Ward. One said she “had ongoing concerns with Ward all year,” and that “she yells at children almost on a daily basis.”

The other employee said Ward grabbed and pushed the student into a chair because the student skipped ahead in a line of other children.

When approached by the district investigator, the 3-year-old student “did not want to talk about what happened.” The student “does not like the mean teacher in the room and did not want to come to school today,” the investigator wrote in his report.

The investigator then spoke with Ward, who seemed “surprised and almost confused” when confronted with the allegation, according to Nelson’s report.

She made similar comments when speaking to the Bradenton Herald.

“I did put him in a chair, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t push him,” Ward said. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I guess I yelled at him,” she added. “I don’t remember. I did sit him down in a chair, but that classroom was out of control. The teacher had no classroom management and she let the kids do whatever, so I tried to have some management over the classroom.”

The Discipline Committee

After a review of the 2018 incident, law enforcement found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and CPS closed its case with no substantiation of abuse.

But Nelson, the school district investigator, found enough evidence to find Ward in violation of two policies on ethical and professional conduct.

“After speaking with the involved parties, I do believe this incident occurred,” Nelson wrote. “While I do not think there was any intent to abuse or cause harm to the child, there was no need to physically control and yell at the student for cutting in line.”

After meeting in February 2018, the school district’s Discipline Review Committee met to review Ward’s case.

The committee included two people who are no longer with the school district — Ron Ciranna, the then deputy superintendent of operations, and Sarah Brown, then the chief human resources officer.

According to public records, the third member was Cynthia Saunders, then the deputy superintendent of instruction. She became the superintendent of Manatee’s public schools later that year.

The committee decided that Ward should receive a letter of reprimand, and their report — signed by then-superintendent Diana Greene — also notes that Ward would soon be transferred to Manatee Elementary School.

“Continued display of such behavior may lead to further discipline up to termination,” the reprimand letter states.

The end of a career

After the 2018 investigation, the school district moved Ward from Mills Elementary to Manatee Elementary, where she worked in another classroom with young children.

On Monday, a reporter asked for more details on the decision to move Ward and maintain her job as a teacher’s aide for elementary students. The school district’s investigator said that Ward, a district employee since 2014, had no discipline on file until the first investigation in 2018.

“I’m guessing that’s what factored into their decision,” Nelson said in a recent interview, referencing the Discipline Committee.

The first investigation, he said, focused on accusations that Ward grabbed a student by the wrist and placed them “aggressively in a chair.” Though he found Ward in violation of district policy, neither law enforcement nor CPS made findings against her.

Other details that arose during that investigation, including comments that Ward yells on a daily basis, and that she placed her finger or toes on a child, were issues handled at the school level, Nelson continued.

According to his investigation, a classroom teacher met with Ward in November 2017. The teacher “outlined some expectations and gave her some classroom management tips.”

The school principal also scheduled Ward to attend a two-day training session in January 2018.

It wasn’t until this year, when Ward left the razor in a school bathroom, that she was again investigated, leading to her resignation and verified findings of neglect by CPS.

It marked the end of a career in Manatee County schools that began nearly seven years ago. Ward worked in five different schools during that time, according to information provided by the school district:

• Nov. 6, 2014, Ward filled a vacancy at King Middle School, where she worked as an ESE teacher’s aide.

• May 4, 2015, Ward transferred to Blackburn Elementary School, where she worked as an ESE teacher’s aide. There was no reason given for the transfer. She received a positive evaluation during her time at Blackburn, the district noted.

• June 5, 2017, Ward transferred to Mills Elementary School to work as an ESE teacher’s aide. The reason was marked as “voluntary/involuntary,” which could mean she transferred to meet staffing needs.

• Feb. 12, 2018, Ward transferred to Manatee Elementary School after being investigated at her previous campus. The school non-renewed her less than three months later.

• Aug. 1, 2018, Ward began working as an ESE teacher’s aide at Samoset Elementary School.

• May 28, 2021, Ward resigned from Samoset during the second investigation.

Ward said she was no longer working in education, and that she hoped to move on from her past.

“I didn’t mean to do any harm to any child,” she said. “I would never do that.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County teacher’s aide resigns after student returns home with shaved eyebrows."