BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – The Broward County School Board announced Tuesday they will not hire a neutral investigator and will rely on the Florida Ethics Commission after two school board members were accused last month of inappropriate touching.
Broward County School Board members Allen Zeman and Brenda Fam are facing allegations involving inappropriate touching, and those allegations were once again being addressed Tuesday.
In the case of Zeman, he is accused of slapping a male staff member on the buttocks during a recess at the school board meeting on Dec. 13.
“A board member witness(ed) another board member slap an employee on the buttocks,” said School Board General Counsel Marylin Batista.
Zeman told Local 10 News what happened on the day of the incident.
“I walked behind a colleague, I meant to slap him on the back and I hit a little bit too low,” he said. “It was not my shining moment, to be honest with you, I wish I hadn’t done it.”
“He also mentioned that he had forgotten their incident until it was mentioned to him the following day by the board member who witnessed it,” said Batista.
In the case of Fam, the Sun Sentinel reported last week that an 18-year-old student reported that Fam touched his buttocks on March 27.
“The student had informed the employee that he had been touched in the behind by a board member on March 27 and that the student was embarrassed by the incident,” said Batista.
Fam told the Sun Sentinel last month it was an accident while taking a picture with students.
Fam was not at last Tuesday’s meeting and told Red Broward, a right-leaning website, that she’s not coming back to in-person meetings.
Both school board members have denied any wrongdoing.
In both cases, the people involved did not press charges.
“What is being done here is wrong,” said one board member.
Not one person from the public supported an outside investigation during the school board meeting on Tuesday.
Zeman spoke with Local 10 News on Tuesday and said that he is looking forward to being vindicated after the allegation.
“This probably wasn’t the process that anybody wanted and the outcome is gonna be very reasonable,” he said. “We’ll hear from the (Florida) Ethics Commission about what they think, and I think they’ll come back quick with a vindication in my case.”
Lori Alhadeff, the Broward School Board Chair says they’re also working on changing policy because there isn’t anything written in place that gives the board directions on these types of issues.