An administrative judge has recommended reinstatement for a sacked Winter Haven, Fla. elementary school teacher who swears the porn on his school-issued laptop got there because of a computer virus.
The Inwood Elementary School teacher, Stephen Brown, was fired back in January after Polk County School District officials found out about over 200 explicit and violent pornographic images on the computer, reports Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV.
Brown strongly professed his innocence, however, and he hired a law firm to fight his eventual termination.
During the subsequent legal wrangling, an expert witness testified on the teacher’s behalf that malware commonly called the FBI virus penetrated the laptop without his knowledge and wreaked porn havoc.
An attorney representing Brown argued that the images were downloaded in such rapid succession that only a virus could be to blame.
The WFTV story is somewhat ambiguous on some details, but it appears that Brown self-reported the images.
The ABC affiliate says that teacher called the actual FBI about the virus, which informed him that the virus is not unusual. He then took the laptop to a local Staples office supply store to have the virus removed. Then, he apparently alerted school officials about his tricky situation
That last step proved Brown’s professional undoing.
However, the administrative law judge in his case ruled that the school district failed to demonstrate that Brown downloaded the pornographic images.
In addition to awarding Brown back pay and benefits, the judge urged school district officials to employ the elementary school teacher once again.
District officials were noncommittal when WFTV asked if Brown would get his old gig back.
Parents were more decisive.
“I would be looking to switch schools. I would,” Inwood parent Latoya Stoutamir told WFTV when asked what she would do in the event that Brown makes a triumphant return.
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