SUNRISE, FL — The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission said Monday it will not make any recommendations to Lee County Schools.
This comes after a former assistant principal said Manatee Elementary School was under-reporting violent threats to the state.
Peggy Slichter now has a lawsuit pending against the School District, because she feels like she was wrongfully terminated after bringing up those concerns.
On Monday, the Commission said it planned to let the lawsuit play out before commenting further on Slichter’s claims.
The School District also released an investigation into Slichter’s claims last Friday, performed by attorney Denise Wright, that found "no evidence to support any claim of retaliation."
Lee County Schools Safety and Security Director David Newlan said the reason Manatee Elementary doesn’t show up in the state’s SESIR database simply has to do with how the data is displayed.
"These are being reported, but they don’t always fall under SESIR. They can fall under referral report, that goes under into the file, they can fall into a threat assessment report, or SESIR, or all three," said Newlan.
SESIR stands for School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting. All serious threats in school have to be reported to that system, and the state records those incidents in a spreadsheet released every year.
The investigation found that Slichter was not retaliated against because she brought up her concerns after her contract was non-renewed.
Slichter and her attorney say she told multiple people about her concerns before her contract was non-renewed.
