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School employees partied with a high school student. It cost them their jobs.

Sarasota High School
Sarasota High School Sarasota County Schools

A Sarasota High School registrar has been fired and an assistant principal reassigned after a Snap Chat video surfaced that showed a high school student drinking at a party with the registrar at the assistant principal’s home.

Sarasota High School registrar Rowena Short, 39, was spotted in the video at the party with a 17-year-old Riverview High School student who was drinking “a possible alcoholic beverage,” according to a Sarasota County sheriff incident report.

The video showed Short standing above the student on a kitchen counter-top. She then, according to deputies, bumped the student in the head with her butt. The caption on the video read “My girl,” the report says.

The incident has raised questions whether or not Short had a relationship with the student.

When deputies questioned the student on Jan. 18, he said he did not have any relationship with Short and that he discovered the party through “941 Party” on Snapchat, which he said gives locations of parties in the area. The party, deputies said, took place on Sunday, Jan. 14, at a house in the Palmer Ranch area.

When asked whose house the party was at or the address, the student said “he didn’t remember” because he was “intoxicated,” according to the report.

It was later discovered that the party was at the home of Sarasota High assistant principal, 42-year-old Bethany King.

Deputies also spoke with the student’s mother who told them she saw the video and that “it would be a stretch to think there was an inappropriate relationship,” and declined to take any further action.

According to the sheriff’s office, the incident is no longer under investigation and has been labeled as suspicious.

On Tuesday, Sarasota County Schools issued a statement regarding the incident and said that Short has been fired because of her “brief tenure with the district.”

According to the district, King, who has been employed with Sarasota County Schools since July 2014, was the host of the birthday party that day at her house and has been reassigned to the Sarasota County School District’s Office while it conducts an internal investigation.

“The well-being of our students both on and off campus is important to us,” the district said in a release. “We will continue to investigate this matter and will take necessary action as warranted when the internal investigation concludes.”

Samantha Putterman: 941-745-7027, @samputterman

This story was originally published January 30, 2018 at 5:47 PM with the headline "School employees partied with a high school student. It cost them their jobs.."

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