LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A former South Lake High School teacher will never step inside a Florida classroom again after the state yanked his teaching license.
The teacher was arrested two years ago, but has his license taken away recently.
It took the state nearly a year to pull the teacher's license after he was found guilty of having sex with an underage student.
The state issued the order to revoke Michael Ryan’s license 11 months after a judge sent Ryan to jail.
The order shows the state Education Department permanently revoked Ryan's teaching license and barred him from ever applying for another one.
That's because court records show a judge found Ryan guilty of "unlawful sexual activity with a minor" and "contributing to delinquency/dependency of minor" last August.
Ryan was arrested in 2014 after one of his former students told investigators the two had sex twice.
Deputies started investigating after they pulled Ryan over in the middle of the night and found the underage student in the passenger seat.
Investigators said they later found hundreds of text messages between Ryan and the girl.
The school district then put Ryan, who was also the high school's softball coach, on unpaid leave.
The state Education Department explained in an email why it took as long as it did to revoke the teacher’s license, even though he was in jail.
The agency outlined a seven-step process for revoking a teacher's license.
The length of that process varies from case to case.
A judge ordered Ryan to serve just under a year in jail.
A judge had Ryan arrested again in May, and sent him back to jail to finish his sentence.
Documents show the jail made an error and released him too early.
Cox Media Group
