After school security threat communication snafu, parents call for Beamon’s resignation

UPDATE: The Florida Department of Education sent a memo to every school district in Florida about the situation at Sabal Point Elementary. 

“I will flag him in our statewide database to ensure that he cannot slip through the cracks elsewhere,” wrote Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas in the memo. “Safety is non-negotiable. We will not tolerate lapses that put students or staff at risk. Treat this as a professional imperative, not a suggestion.”

Original story follows:

Facing shouts from parents for the superintendent to resign, Seminole County Public Schools is planning to investigate how it handled a potential security threat at Sabal Point Elementary in Longwood. 

On Sept. 24, a school employee who works with special needs children approached the school’s resource officer, requesting to be held under Florida’ Baker Act, which allows for 72-hour confinement at a mental health facility if a person is thinking of hurting themselves or others. 

A Risk Protection Order was filed in Seminole County a day later, which allows law enforcement to temporarily remove weapons if someone is deemed a threat to themselves or others. According to those documents reviewed by Oviedo Community News, the 23-year-old school employee told investigators he had been having issues with a 6-year-old student who had been biting him. 

He told deputies he had “thought about cutting her throat with a knife,” and also thought about “beating the [same six] year old [student] to death.” He also told the detectives he had thought about what it would be like to “bring a gun to school and start shooting children in the cafeteria.”

He was subsequently brought to a psychiatric facility, put on administrative leave and resigned his position. 

The employee is an Oviedo resident who lives with his parents, according to records reviewed by Oviedo Community News. The staff member has also been diagnosed as autistic and bipolar. Oviedo Community News is not identifying the employee because he wasn’t arrested or charged with a crime.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

The issue came to a head Oct. 3, when rumors began circulating on social media about some form of threat at the school, prompting worried parents to pull students from the school in the middle of the day. That’s when the district finally sent a message to parents telling them what happened, according to media reports. 

Maura Olvey, a teacher at Sabal Point Elementary School, addressed the school board Tuesday. She said every adult in the school should have known once the incident happened. 

“We are the first line of defense to protect our precious students, and you left us like sitting ducks,” Olvey told the board. “We should have known from the moment it happened to be on the lookout for him and to call a code red if we saw him anywhere on or near campus.”

Olvey’s comments were met with cheers from the audience. 

“We are even trained to stop catastrophic bleeding,” Olvey said. “But when a potentially dangerous situation arose, we were left in the dark by our district leaders. Shame on you.”

Dozens of parents filled the school board chambers Tuesday night to standing-room-only capacity. Many wore green shirts, or Sabal Point Elementary gator T-shirts. The crowd often booed at the school board, and had to be gaveled into silence multiple times.

Other speakers said the district didn’t allow the school’s principal to tell parents or staff about the incident, and many questioned how the employee was hired in the first place. 

There were two prior incidents where police were called because the employee was publicly masturbating. In both of those situations, he was picked up by police and brought back to his parents, never charged with a crime. 

In the wake of the communications snafu from the school security threat, Superintendent Serita Beamon addressed the board and the public at the meeting. She said she was out of town at a conference on Sept. 24 when the incident happened, but was pulled out of the conference and briefed about it.

“We’re reviewing how we communicate about highly sensitive health information about our employees in situations like this,” Beamon said. “It’s something we’re looking [at] to see if we can do a better job.”

Beamon said the locks at Sabal Point Elementary were changed over the weekend at her request; members in the audience disputed that, saying the request came from parents and staff. She also said she was briefed about the incident the day it happened, but did not talk to anyone at Sabal Point Elementary. 

“I want to be very clear, I did not have a conversation with Principal (Shannon) Stokes on Sept. 24,” Beamon said. “I did not have a conversation with principal Stokes that week. I still have not had …” 

Beamon was cut off with shouts of “why” from the audience. 

Beamon also addressed the accusation that she told the principal not to communicate what happened with staff and parents. 

“The parents of the individual student (who was threatened) was going to be contacted and notified,” Beamon said. “That was part of what was included in the briefing. And we did discuss that medical health issues are not sent out for employees, are not sent out and communicated to schools and individuals at large. That was part of the briefing and conversation.”

School board members said there would be an investigation into what happened, and that they want to work with law enforcement to see if there are ways that incidents that don’t result in an arrest could still possibly be flagged. 

“We need to figure out how to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said School Board Member Abby Sanchez said to cheers from the audience. “We all feel this way, it’s not just me.”

One option was looking at state and federal laws.

“I’m incredibly grateful that no harm came from this for our individual students,” said School Board Member Autumn Garick, holding back tears. “However, looking forward, this is a wakeup call for our community, (and) throughout the state. Because everything we did was by statute. And right now it’s not enough. It’s simply not enough.”

Communication from district brought into focus

Seminole County Public Schools first sent a notice to parents on Friday, Oct. 3, nine days after the employee approached the school resource officer. 

That message was just three sentences long. 

“Sabal Point Administration was made aware that … a paraprofessional with Sabal Point Elementary School, self-reported concerning thoughts to the school resource deputy on September 24, 2025.  Based on this information, [he] was immediately placed on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation and has since tendered his resignation with SCPS.  He has not been on campus since this incident.”

But later in the day, the district sent out a longer message. 

“It is important to emphasize that the school campus was never under any active threat, and the safety of students and staff has remained secure,” the message read. “Out of an abundance of caution and to provide reassurance, additional deputies have been assigned to Sabal Point Elementary.”

By Sunday afternoon, a much longer message was sent out. At that point, the district had also changed the locks.

“We also want to assure our Sabal Point community that law enforcement personally retrieved the campus keys from (the employee’s) residence, and out of an abundance of caution, our maintenance and facilities team has changed the campus locks over the weekend,” the message reads. 

Seminole County Public Schools spokesperson Katherine Crnkovich said the school is reviewing what happened. 

“As you heard last night, and as was shared with Sabal Point families, we are actively reviewing this incident,” Crnkovich said. “As far as what actions will be taken, that has not yet been determined.”

After Tuesday’s school board meeting, Oviedo Community News messaged all five members of the school board to see if they still support Beamon in the role of superintendent, and if there are any policy changes they want to see come forward as a result of the Sabal Point incident.

School Board member Robin Dehlinger replied. 

“The meeting last night was an opportunity for people to share their comments,” Dehlinger said. “However, there is questionable information swirling on social media that has inflamed the situation. So respectfully, at this time, I prefer to reserve responding until investigations are complete.”

School Board Member Kelley Davis said it’s “scary to think what could have happened,” and called the incident upsetting. “I am grateful that the individual involved sought help.” She said it’s too soon to know what policies would need changing. 

But when it came to Beamon, Davis said the superintendent has her support. 

“Superintendent Beamon will always have my support based on the dedication she has shown to her position and the care she has shown for our students,” Davis wrote. “She always has the best interest and the safety and security of our students at the forefront of her thoughts. This incident is no different. It is not something that is put under the rug. No one would expect that the district would hide it from parents and the community, and Superintendent Beamon would not expect nor want it to be kept from parents especially.”

School Board Chair Kraus said she also supports Beamon, and is waiting for an investigation to play out before recommending policy changes. 

“The parents are frustrated; angry and scared and they shared that with us last night,” Kraus wrote. “We need to work diligently to rebuild trust with open communication – and honesty. I have asked for a closed session meeting with our Safety and Security team to review our safety measures and will ask our team for a root cause analysis following investigation.”

Jessica Tillmann, the chair of the conservative Seminole County Moms for Liberty chapter, told audience members they should consider a run for office. But as of Wednesday, “No one has reached out to me to run,” Tillmann said.

Speaking with Oviedo Community News after the meeting, Olvey, the Sabal Point teacher, said she wasn’t happy with how the superintendent responded, and said the district “can definitely find someone who’s better at that job.” 

She said she hopes the issue doesn’t end at Tuesday’s board meeting.

“We need school board members that are familiar with how schools run, who have young children, maybe, who attend our schools,” Olvey said. “They need to be more connected to the people who are in the schools and the parents.” 

The Seminole County Public Schools Board also:

• Heard a draft policy that would allow students to profit off of their “Name, Image and Likeness” rights. This would codify a state law allowing students to profit off their branding at the high school level, but students could not use district logos or uniforms. They would also have to follow the Florida High School Athletic Association guidelines. 
• Approved contracts with the Seminole Educational Clerical Association, Inc. and the Non-Instructional Personnel Of Seminole County. Both of those contracts call for a 39 cent-per-hour raise. “None of the raises are meeting the cost of living here in the state of Florida,” said Thomas Bugos, who represents the teacher’s union, which also recently ratified its contract. “And with Seminole County raising gas taxes, property taxes, utilities, we’re just seeing an increase across the board in government-initiated expenses and our raises …will not cover those increases.”