May 16, 2016 – Annie Martin
Former Freedom High band teacher Franklin Jennings was first accused of exchanging sexual text messages with a former student in 2009.
About the same time, a colleague discovered Jennings having sex with a woman in a back room during a school production of Macbeth, Orange school district records say.
When Jennings was fired over the summer, his termination was hidden from public view, even though the Orange County School Board votes on disciplinary actions against employees during public meetings. It’s been that way for years in Orange, even though Government in the Sunshine advocates say that approach may be problematic and other Central Florida districts list such actions openly.
The Orlando Sentinel obtained Orange employee discipline records since August by filing a public records request. The accusations against Jennings were among the most serious cases detailed in the files. [READ MORE]