FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A Marjory Stoneman Douglas coach who faced criticism over his actions in the Feb. 14 massacre was recommended to be fired last year after two students accused him of sexual harassment.
The school district decided instead to suspend assistant baseball coach Andrew Medina, 39, for three days from his duties as a security monitor on campus.
Medina was accused in February 2017 of asking one female student to go out on a date, and whispering into the ear of another, "You are fine as f---," according to a school district investigation.
"Both students became so uncomfortable with Mr. Medina's comments and actions, they sought out different routes to their classes in an attempt to avoid him," says the report, prepared by Robert Spence, a detective with the district's Special Investigative Unit.
Investigators reviewed surveillance tape and it accurately depicts a student's claim that Medina had pursued her and then confronted her in the hallway at 10:41 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2017. The conversation lasted about a minute and a half and there was no physical contact, the report said.
The student said Medina asked her where she worked and if he could come by her job later, the report said.
"Mr. Medina told her that he would wait for her and because it was not at school, he could flirt with her," the report said.
The district's Professional Standards Committee, made up of district employees, found probable cause to charge Medina with inappropriate conduct. An Oct. 4 report recommends terminating him. But a handwritten note at the bottom says, "Discipline should not be termination but instead a three-day suspension."
The final decision appears to have been signed off by Craig Nichols, chief of human resources for the district.
Medina could not be reached for comment.
He was reassigned to an undisclosed position after a video was released where Medina described how he failed to stop shooter Nikolas Cruz, question him or lock down the school. He instead radioed ahead to warn fellow monitor David Taylor that a suspicious kid was headed his way, and Taylor hid in a closet. Taylor has also been reassigned.
