ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The investigation into an Orange County charter school shows no one at the school told police or the Florida Department of Children and Families a former employee was accused of sending nude photos to students.
If prosecuted, not reporting that type of action to authorities could land someone in prison for up to five years.
Jaelen Alexander was arrested in May after an investigation into the alleged crime began at the Orlando Science Charter School.
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Alexander was fired after the school said it did its own investigation, but it was 30 days after the first student came forward before the school resource officer was even told.
The school's parent company was, at the same time, applying for a new charter school.
Questions raised by WFTV investigative reporter Shannon Butler led School Board Chairwoman Teresa Jacobs to call for an investigation into how the school handled the situation and why nobody from the school immediately let the right people know.
Documents show the school's dean told the student who came forward that they could call police if they wanted.
When pressed by the school district in their investigation about why the school didn't report to DCF officials, an unsigned document by someone at the school said they thought law enforcement would handle that after the school turned over the internal investigation to police.
But police couldn't have done it, because at the time, the school didn't turn over their investigation to law enforcement.
The investigation shows that the Orlando Science Charter School could not give a clear yes or no answer about who, if anyone, at the school told police or the state that one of its employees was accused of sending inappropriate messages and picture to students.
It is the policy of the school, the district and a state law to report abuse or sexual abuse to DCF.
The investigation showed that a student reported to the dean March 26 that Alexander was sending him messages on Snapchat, including a picture showing the now former office assistant in the shower with his shirt off.
Then, according to the dean, more students came forward with similar claims.
Two days later, Dean Jeffery Kreibel told the principal he was still uneasy about the situation, that it could be a legal issue and suggested telling the school resource officer.
The two met and the next day, Alexander was sent a letter of termination. The school was set to pay him for 30 more days.
After Alexander resigned, the school said it didn't have to pay him for the next month.
He left the school without police knowing about those accusations.
Documents show it was almost three weeks later when the student went back to Kreibel and asked if the school would be calling police.
It was 10 days after that, April 29, that an "unidentified person" finally notified the SRO. It was only then that Alexander was arrested.
WFTV was told Monday that nobody at the district could comment.
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