Renee Tapia Grade 4 Teacher August 29, 2012 1:25 -- 2:05 Observation of Employee's Condition and Determination of Reasonable Suspicion Upon entering the room, Mrs. Tapia was brainstorming with her students indoor recess activities that they could do in the classroom. These activities were written on the whiteboard and directions were given to clarify questions about expectations. During this time, the following behaviors were observed: Slurred, thick speech incoherent speech Exaggerated enunciation Loud, boisterous Nonsensical speech Repetition of words Excessive rubbing of face and hair Agitated and fidgety Dilated pupils/ wide eyed Blank staring at students Flushed Complexion Steadied herself by holding onto desks when moving After 18 minutes of brainstorming, students self--selected an activity and played in the classroom for 15 minutes. During this indoor recess, the following was observed: Mrs. Tapia sat at her computer and opened her Outlook Express. During this time, she read/sent emails for 3 minutes. While at the computer, she was focused on her email and did not look up to monitor students until it was obvious by the noise level that student behavior had escalated. Once Mrs. Tapia got off the computer, she redirected students and reviewed directions for playing the silent ball game as students were experiencing conflict. At one point, Mrs. Tapia discussed personal issues with the observer, such as her parent recently dying, intricate details of her hand surgery, and how much pain she was experiencing. Afterwards, a student had her cell phone out showing Mrs. Tapia pictures of her bird and telling her stories about it. .. Throughout the indoor recess, Mrs. Tapia continued to have slurred, thick, incoherent speech with an exaggerated enunciation and word repetition. She excessively rubbed her face and hair and appeared agitated. when moving around the room, she steadied herself by periodically holding onto desks. At the end of recess, even though students were directed to go to their desks and prepare for math, Mrs. Tapia watched as students were non-compliant. After reminding them 3-4 times, they were finally sat down at their desks. Dr. Barbara Shirley Principal/Neutral Observer Southside Elementary 1901 Suru.s'utu, Fluntlu Plruiic Fax "Date: December 18, 2012 To: Randy Kosec, Jr. From: Steven E. Dragon, Principa Re: Renee Tapia I have been Renee Tapia's immediate supervisor since August 2010. During the 2010-11 school year, her classroom performance evaluation would give her an overall "effective" rating. During the 2011-12 school year, I marked her "effective." However, I marked her "needs improvement/developing" in competency 4.4, "Developing positive relationships with family and community". A combination of both the student growth component of "highly effective" and the Sarasota County Schools PRIDE component rated her "effective", giving her an overall score of "highly effective". During the 2011-12 school year she also received a verbal reprimand (in writing) for unprofessional language with her students and yelling and screaming at them and "getting in their faces" which was reflected in her evaluation. I became aware of the incident that occurred on August 29, 2012 when multiple staff members approached my administrative assistant and teacher on special assignment to the principal with concerns of Ms. Tapia's behavior and her reporting that she was "having a breakdown". immediately went to her classroom to observe for myself and noticed her appearance was disheveled, sweating profusely and exhibiting slurred speech. I immediately called Human Resources and spoke to Mr. Al Harayda who then contacted Dr. Barbara Shirley, another school administrator to complete a "Reasonable Suspicion Observation". Upon completion of the observation, Dr. Shirley and directed Ms. Tapia to report for a Reasonable Suspicion Drug and/or Alcohol Test. Ms. Tapia did not want to go and asked to speak to Mr. Barry Dubin, the Executive Director of the Teacher's Union. She contacted him using her cell phone in our presence and he told her she needed to go and do the testing. A cab was called and Ms. Tapia went to the testing site. Later that afternoon, Ms. Tapia called the Substitute Teacher Line at approximately 4:42pm. She left a message that was blatantly insubordinate and extremely disrespectful to me as her immediate supervisor. On November 7, 2012, she received a Written Reprimand for this unprofessional behavior. souii?idel 2 Including ALL the "Arts inthel Elempenftary Experience! 2 A