The Forest High School teacher who is accused of drowning nuisance animals during the school day with the help of some students has abruptly retired.
Agriculture teacher Dewie Brewton, who spent 31 years with Marion County Public Schools, submitted a signed letter to the district Thursday indicating he planned to leave his post immediately.
Brewton’s decision ends the school district’s investigation into his actions, but probes by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Health in Marion County are continuing.
Brewton’s resignation letter came one day after Marion County Schools Superintendent Heidi Maier called for the school board to oust him. It also followed a statement released by the school board condemning the actions that greatly upset students and their parents.
“Marion County’s education standards – in fact, Florida’s education standards – do not include activities for the destruction of live animals, nuisance or not,” the statement read. “While law enforcement determines whether this teacher’s actions were legal or not, his actions before students are entirely unacceptable and cause us great concern.”
Brewton, who already was on administrative leave, had been teaching at Forest High School since 2006 and was the school’s’ nominee for Golden Apple Teacher of the Year in 2010. He was accused of drowning caged raccoons in a trash can as some students participated and others watched.
One of the animals supposedly had eaten one of the chickens the class was raising.
Several students reported that when the raccoons tried to come up for air, metal rods were used to hold them down and they were sprayed in the face with water hoses.
Outraged parents and others upset about the situation had started several online efforts calling for Brewton’s termination. And many of his former students had come to his defense on the Forest High School FFA Alumni Facebook page.
Forest High School, located at 5000 SE Maricamp Rd., also was in the news last month when former student Sky Bouche was arrested after a shooting at the school left a 17-year-old wounded. Bouche, who faces multiple charges including terrorism and aggravated assault with a firearm, has pleaded not guilty.
Dept. Jim Long, the school resource officer who arrested Bouche within three minutes of hearing the shotgun blast, was awarded the Medal of Heroism by Gov. Rick Scott six days after the shooting.