During public comment at the Nov. 4 meeting, parent JJ Scott described an incident he said occurred Oct. 16 at Gateway Elementary in which a substitute teacher employed by Kelly Services physically assaulted his 10-year-old son, a fifth-grader. Scott said multiple witness statements were on record and characterized the incident as an "unprovoked assault."

"This was not discipline," Scott said, describing the substitute grabbing his son's wrist, throwing him to the ground and leaving the child frightened and hiding in a bathroom until adults arrived. Scott said the district told him the substitute would no longer be allowed to teach in Lee County Schools, and he asked the board to investigate the Kelly Services contract and screening procedures to prevent similar incidents.

Later in the meeting the superintendent said, for the public record, that the district has acted and the guest teacher "is no longer with the school district." The board did not take a separate, recorded vote on any disciplinary action during the Nov. 4 meeting; the superintendent's statement was entered into the public record.