Background Check on Teacher Anthony Presto Fails to Show Allegations of Sexual Abuse and Giving Kids Drugs and Alcohol
At Glenallen Elementary in Sarasota County, Florida, teacher Anthony Presto was hired after administrators performed a routine background check. This consisted of a fingerprint search and talking to references. Yet Presto had been fired in Massachusetts for giving drugs and alcohol to his students, as well as touching several girls inappropriately.
The problem is that most Florida school districts rely on teaching job applicants to disclose past transgressions - and most sexual predators don’t fess up…duh.
One way to get around this is to give administrators a few lessons on how to use Google and on the Freedom of Information Act. A Google search exposed Presto’s problems in Massachusetts to Sarasota officials. (You can view the PDF here.) Also, Presto’s personnel file in Massachusetts is a public record that anyone can inspect.
What are your school district’s hiring policy? Do they get a state FBI report and check the sex offender list? What if the job applicant is from another state? How do they check their employment records then?
As a parent, you need to know this! If you don’t think hiring practices are strict enough, maybe it’s time to get your local school board to tighten them up.
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sexual abuse, sexual predator, child abuse, drugs and alcohol, hiring practices
September 25th, 2007 at 5:27 am
[...] Background Check on Teacher Anthony Presto Fails to Show Allegations of Sexual Abuse and Giving Kids… [...]
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:24 am
I had Anthony Presto as a Phys. Ed teacher in High School. We used to always notice he touched the girls in our class. We used to joke that he was a sexual predator. It is a sad state of affairs that a man like this can be teaching young people.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Yeah well get used to it “Larry Bird” ….cause you ain’t seen nothin’ yet…..its about to get worse….our system is breaking down (well duh),…and is going to start hapening at a geometric rate….so don’t act all dumb-ass and nieve….we all should’a seen it coming long ago….you know….if the shit-for-brains powers-that-be of this country had emphasized education instead of personal wealth long ago we wouldn’t be dealing with this shit now would we……but oh no….
This society insults teachers for paying them a paltry salary for their hard damn work and yet we all act suprised that many of them are going a bit bannannas under the pressures they are subjected to……what the hell do we expect?
You abuse a dog long enough its either gonna’ roll over and die or chew you a new fucking ass…..asshole.
By the way I’m sure Larry Bird would be proud of the shit you’ve dragged his name across ….cocksucker.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Brian. Why the animosity? Larry Bird was Tony Presto’s nickname when he was my Phys Ed teacher. I dont see why that would make you call someone a cocksucker? Really.. you must be a product of a public school education.