CRESTVIEW — A former assistant football coach and teacher at Crestview High School found guilty of inappropriate physical contact with two students over the summer has turned in his resignation. Blake Moore resigned about three months after the father of one of the football players came forward and said Moore had taken his son to the ground and “choked” him during summer football practice. He was also accused of getting physical with two other students during same off-season practice. A district investigation confirmed two of three instances of inappropriate contact. Moore couldn’t be reached for comment. “He just said that (with) all the stress of the events that had occurred this year he just felt burnt out,” Crestview Principal Bob Jones said. “And he just felt like he needed to step away from education for a little bit.” Moore’s last day of work was Oct. 25, according to Mike Foxworthy, the chief human resources officer for the district. Foxworthy said Moore had been demoted from teacher to extended substitute on Sept. 19 because he hadn’t passed the necessary subject area test to serve as a full-time teacher. He was hired to work as a math teacher in Sept. 2011. He arrived in the district in June 2009 and worked as a substitute teacher and coach, Foxworthy said. Jones said a new teacher was hired to fill Moore’s vacant position about a week before Thanksgiving break. He also said Moore told him during the resignation conversation that he might eventually consider returning to teaching. Moore first came under investigation after parent Mike Dean reported the June 19 incident to school officials. At the time, the school did an informal investigation and opted to verbally reprimand Moore. Forty-one days after the incident, Dean filed a formal grievance with the district because he felt the school’s investigation and disciplinary actions were unsatisfactory. The district’s investigation concluded in mid-August and recommended Moore be suspended without pay for three days, attend and com-plete an anger management course and that the investigation report be forwarded to the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Pro-fessional Practices for review or further action. Moore appealed the results, but district officials ultimately upheld the disciplinary recommendations, though they did say it was unclear if he had “choked” a student or not based on conflicting witness statements. Foxworthy said he couldn’t confirm whether or not Professional Standards had started looking into the incident, but that Moore’s resigna-tion wouldn’t affect it happening. “Even when people quit, they still come down and do the investigation,” Foxworthy said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Investigated Crestview assistant coach resigns