FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – This language arts teacher is not getting an award for encouraging his students and his peers. Instead, he has had to defend his Broward County School District job for years because of language that some colleagues and students have considered to be both abusive and threatening.
Eric Delucia, 45, allegedly referred to two of the principals at two different schools as “The Devil.” While one of them was undergoing treatment for cancer, he allegedly said, “She will kick the bucket soon because she has cancer and no one will care when she is gone.”
While referring to another principal, he allegedly said, “My motivation is to destroy her with everything I have ... wished the ground would open up and swallow her.” Delucia was allegedly not afraid to refer to a student as an idiot, a dummy, a brat, a spineless prick or just trash.
The Broward Teachers Union has been defending him and will appeal if the district decides to fire him on Tuesday. Delucia, who earned $52,000 annually, started teaching in Broward in 2006. He has had years of trouble.
The allegations made against him resulted in his record with the Florida Department of Education, which includes reprimands in 2015, 2017 and 2019 -- when he was under probation. His three-year probation period started in 2018.
Delucia taught at Cooper City High School during the 2011/2012 school year and at Ramblewood Middle School during the 2012/2013 school year. After suffering a series of strokes Jan. 1, 2013, he had a medical leave of absence during the 2013/2014 school year.
On Oct. 30, 2014, he allegedly told students “gods viewed humans as pets or sexual toys.”
Delucia was transferred to Piper High School for the 2015/2016 school year.
On Jan. 12, 2015, a witness said one of the words Delucia wrote on the board was “retard,” which although synonymous with deceleration is more commonly used as an insult.
Some of the comments he allegedly made in front of witnesses include, “If your writing looks like garbage and smells like garbage, then it is garbage" and “These kids have the memories of gnats.”
A student once accused him of suggesting that another student commit suicide, records show.
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