Math teacher fired for labeling students' photo 'dark roast' said slavery wasn't 'that bad'

Years before a white Lake Worth High School math teacher was fired for writing "dark roast" and "extra cream" labels above students' photos in class, he was disciplined for making a litany of shocking sexual comments to multiple female students in Broward County schools.

Palm Beach County school district officials said they knew Cary Altschuler had been disciplined by the state for making "inappropriate and sometimes sexual comments to female students" when they considered his application in August 2020.

But there's no evidence that human resources staff looked into the details, or that the allegations even gave them pause.

Instead, he got the job as a math teacher and started to coach the girl's flag football team. The investigation didn't document any incidents while he was coaching.

As a result of his hiring, district officials subjected Lake Worth High students to unwanted shoulder rubs, a conversation in class about the "pros and cons" of slavery, Altschuler calling a student a "good blower" after a band concert and, the behavior that sparked the school investigation, Altschuler posting coffee terms above students' photos in class based on their skin color, investigation documents show.

While not addressing direct questions about whether Altschuler's behavior was concerning, the school district said in a statement Friday that procedures implemented since he was hired notify supervisors of "known previous employment concerns."

Altschuler in previous Broward County job commented on bra sizes, first time sex

Six Broward County students told school officials in 2016 that Altschuler guessed students' bra sizes, asked at what age they had sex for the first time and made comments about a student's wet T-shirt and the bust size of another student's mother. His conduct with students got so frustrating that several female students told administrators they repeatedly skipped his class.

Broward County investigators removed him from the classroom for six months in 2016 while they looked into the allegations. He was ultimately reprimanded by the superintendent in December of that year.

Florida's Education Practices Commission, the agency that considers disciplinary actions against teachers' certificates, reviewed dozens of pages of complaints yet decided in January 2018 it wouldn't suspend or revoke Altschuler's teaching certificate. Instead, the commission placed him on probation for two years and fined him $750. He continued to teach.

Altschuler's probation was over by the time he applied to teach in Palm Beach County.

While he checked a box on his application that he'd been disciplined by the state, his personnel file shows no evidence that district staff reviewed the details of his conduct in Broward or discussed whether his previous behavior should preempt him from teaching students at Lake Worth High.

More on Altschuler: Florida teacher fired after writing 'dark roast,' 'extra cream' above student photos

Report: Teacher friended students on Snapchat, made 'wet T-shirt' comments and guessed when Broward students had sex for the first time

Before he came to Palm Beach County, Altschuler worked at three different high schools in Broward County — two for less than a year.

Altschuler started his first job in education as a math teacher at Plantation High School in March 2013. He was hired halfway through the school year and taught geometry and algebra II. He didn't stay at the school for long because the teacher whose position he was hired to fill decided to return to the school.

Altschuler moved to West Broward High in October and taught there the rest of the school year before school administration did not renew his contract because he was "not a right fit for the school." Altschuler later told Broward County investigators that he didn't get student grades to a high enough level to stay at West Broward.

He moved to Cooper City High in 2014.

Students at Cooper City in March 2016 reported to assistant principal Vera Perkovic that during a conversation between students in class about a recent football banquet, Altschuler said, "Speaking of jugs, I saw your mom at the banquet," and later, "You're going to tell me she wasn't looking good that day?"

The male student immediately became angry with Altschuler, who apologized.

But the incident appeared to trigger several memories from students of other times Altschuler had acted inappropriately in class.

One student reported a time when Altschuler ran into her friend under the bleachers before a football game and remarked, "Now I know why you wore a white T-shirt" in reference to her rain-soaked shirt. It was unclear why Altschuler was under the bleachers in the first place.

Another student came forward in May and told Perkovic that Altschuler added her and three of her classmates on Snapchat and regularly watched their "stories" — short videos users can share with their friends on the app. The student heard him say in the classroom that Snapchat, which deletes comments and photos sent after 24 hours, is "the best thing for the teacher because the comments go away and can't be brought back up."

She added that Altschuler had thrown candy down female students' shirts in class, asked what they wore beneath their sweatshirts "if he was to cut it off" and guessed at their bra sizes.

A third student told Perkovic that Altschuler forced her to jump for a pencil above her head in class and then called her to his desk at the end of class to tell her her dress was too short for school. He asked her whether she was wearing anything under the dress because he'd heard that she wasn't.

A fourth student said that Altschuler regularly made comments that made her uncomfortable. In one instance, she recalled Altschuler interrupting her conversation with a friend to "guess" at what age the students had sex for the first time. Another time, she said he questioned whether she'd ever bought anything at Victoria's Secret and asked what she bought there.

"I just think the comments he makes are not appropriate and many girls that have him say the same thing, but it's gotten to a point where I now miss (skip) his class because I'm very uncomfortable," the student wrote in a complaint to Perkovic.

Altschuler denied making most of the inappropriate comments, and told Broward school district investigators that the student who was offended by his comments about his mother's bust size was "raised by his mother and was overprotective of her."

"He believes the students at the school feel that they are entitled, and they can say anything they want," the investigators wrote of Altschuler.

In June 2016, just one week before the last day of school, Altschuler was removed from class and reassigned to the district's warehousing department.

The Broward County School District investigated Altschuler and although the district's professional standards committee determined he did not warrant any reprimand, the superintendent disagreed.

Altschuler was formally reprimanded in December 2016. After being away from Cooper City High for six months, he was allowed to return to work the next day.

Altschuler on Friday denied making any inappropriate comments to students during his time in Broward County schools. He said he added students on Snapchat to monitor potential cheating by students posting photos of his exams online.

How did Florida education commission handle Altschuler's misconduct?

After Altschuler was reprimanded by the Broward superintendent, the state Education Practices Commission reviewed his case in March 2017. The group of educators, law enforcement and residents determines whether a teacher's behavior warrants discipline or revocation of their teaching certificate.

The commission in January 2018 placed him on two years probation. By that time, he had resigned from Broward County Schools and was working at Avant Garde Academy, a charter school in Hollywood. He worked there for two years.

Altschuler was also fined $750 by the commission.

When educators are disciplined by the state, the information is posted to a national clearinghouse so that other states can see actions against an educator in Florida, according to the Department of Education.

When Altschuler applied for a job teaching math at Lake Worth High School, his probation was complete.

A review of his personnel files shows that Altschuler stated on his application that he'd been disciplined by the state, noting the date of Broward County's investigation.

The Palm Beach County School District's certification department reviewed the final order from the state, which included a brief summary of the allegations against him.

But it's not clear that the department knew the true depth of the reports from Broward students who said they felt uncomfortable in class and sometimes skipped due to Altschuler's repeated sexual comments. None of Broward County's investigation nor the reports to Perklovic were included in the public final order issued by the state or in Altschuler's Palm Beach County personnel file.

The state's order on Altschuler's probation, which said he made sexual comments toward students, didn't appear to slow down the district from hiring him. Asked whether it looked into the details of his discipline, the school district sent the following statement:

"The Florida Department of Education determined that Mr. Altschuler was eligible for employment. Current procedures that were implemented since then notify the hiring supervisors of any final orders or known previous employment concerns, and the determination to either move forward or end the hiring process are made at that point in conjunction with the hiring manager.

"Please note that since this hire was made, a new Principal of Lake Worth High Schools, Director of Recruitment and Retention, and Chief of Human Resources are in place."

The district declined to answer a question about whether the nature of his behavior or discipline caused concern during the hiring process, and it did not detail the new hiring procedures.

Ex-Lake Worth High math teacher wrote 'dark roast,' 'extra cream' above student's photos, said slavery 'wasn't really that bad'

Altschuler taught at Lake Worth High from September 2020 until February 2022 without major incident, his personnel file shows.

But students started to report problems in February when Altschuler brought up what he called the "pros and cons" of slavery in the United States.

Students accused him of saying "slavery wasn't really that bad," and that enslaved people "got a first class ticket on a cruise ship to America." Lesson plans created by Altschuler showed the statistics class was not scheduled to discuss slavery, and students said they refused to participate in the discussion.

The Palm Beach County School District's 2023 investigation of Altschuler included other incidents involving inappropriate comments and actions toward female students, who told other teachers that he rubbed their shoulders in class and made them feel uncomfortable.

In another instance, a student told investigators that Altschuler referred to her as a "good blower" because she played an instrument in a Veteran's Day band concert held at Bryant Park in Lake Worth. Altschuler made a bizarre defense of this comment by claiming he said it when introducing the student to his wife and that the conversation didn't happen on school grounds.

The final piece of Palm Beach County's investigation concerned Altschuler pulling three students' school photos from the online attendance system and writing the words "extra cream," "medium roast," and "dark roast" above their faces on a smartboard during class.

Two of the students whose photos were used were in the class at the time. Altschuler told school investigators that he was wrong to label the students based on skin color in his class. He said he overheard students calling each other "light skinned," which he perceived as an insult. So he chose photos of three students of varying skin tones to post on the smartboard. Then, he encouraged the students to come up with more "creative" insults. It's not clear whether the coffee terms came from students.

At the time, Principal Elena Villani apologized in a letter sent home to parents for the "racially charged" incident that she called "egregiously inappropriate."

While the school district investigated Altschuler, he worked at home with pay, according to his personnel records. The school board voted to fire Altschuler on June 14, and he has until Aug. 24 to appeal. Altschuler said he will not appeal the decision.

"If we take everyone who has ever made a mistake and say you can’t be a teacher, we’ll never have teachers," he said. "I made the mistake of joking with my students."

His firing will become effective Aug. 25. School starts on Aug. 10.

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County teacher fired over racist coffee labels on students