Dewie Brewton
Dewie Brewton
Video from the incident
Dewie Brewton is an Agriculture Teacher based out of Ocala, Florida. In May 2018 he was suspended after he was caught on video drowning racoons during class. [1]
Biography
Career
Dewie Brewton is a an Agriculture Teacher at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida which is part of the Marion County Public Schools district. Dewie Brewton has been the school's FFA (Future Farmers of America) Organization adviser since 2006. He also has a FNGLA (Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association) industry certification. [1]
In 2010, Forest High School nominated Dewie Brewton for the Golden Apple Teacher of the Year Award. [1]
Animal Abuse Allegations
Photo of students putting the raccoons in cages before the drowning
Photo of students filling a garbage can with water so Dewie Brewton could drown the raccoons
On Monday, May 16, 2018 Dewie Brewton was caught on video drowning two raccoons.
Brewton is accused of drowning two raccoons that were suspected of killing a chicken that his students were raising at the school.
A 14-second video, first released by WKMG Channel 6 news in Orlando, Florida went viral and has been shared by news publications nationwide. The video shows students pouring water into large garbage cans, getting ready to kill the animals. The raccoons, which had been caught in wire traps, were lowered into the water-filled garbage cans. [1]
The mother of one of the students who was in the class Monday, who asked to remain anonymous, said her son came home in tears over what happened to the animals, which the teacher said had been killing the class's chickens.
"It made me sick.
It made me sick to my stomach.
It's terrible.
It still does make me sick to my stomach," the woman said.
Pictures and video recorded by that student show a raccoon in a metal wire trap, which the teacher and students then lifted into a garbage bin while they filled it with water from several hoses.
"When the raccoons tried to come up for air they had metal rods and they held them down with metal rods and when the raccoon would try to pop its head up they held water hoses in its face to drown it," the mother said.
In one video, the tip of a raccoon's snout is seen sticking out just above the surface of the water.
"Why is he not fighting?" one person in the video says as the raccoon sits in the trap in the trash can filled nearly to the brim with water.
The woman said two raccoons were drowned Monday and an opossum that was found later was killed "just for sport."
"I don't think that's the way to treat any animal.
Whether it is a raccoon or (another animal) you just don't torture an animal and kill it like that.
They should have trapped the animal and had somebody take them and relocate the animals," the mother said.
Investigation
On Tuesday, May 15, 2018 Marion County Public Schools officials said they are investigating the incident had placed Dewie Brewton on paid administrative leave.
"While law enforcement tells us the teacher did not do anything illegal, his actions before students are certainly questionable.
Until our investigation is complete, I cannot share further details.
The district is determining the status of the teacher at this moment," a spokesperson said.
School Superintendent Heidi Maier is recommending that Dewie Brewton be fired.
“Marion County Public Schools is appalled” by teacher Dewie Brewton’s actions, the school district said in a statement issued late Wednesday afternoon.
“Marion County’s education standards — in fact, Florida’s education standards — do not include activities for the destruction of live animals, nuisance or not.
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.”
A spokesman from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the agency is investigating the way in which the raccoons were killed. The findings of that investigation will be presented to officials with the state attorney's office, who will then decide if criminal charges are appropriate in this case.
Alumni Response
The Forest High School FFA Alumni Chapter came out in support of Dewie Brewton.
“He has always gone above and beyond his call of duty to ensure that his students had everything they needed,” the chapter wrote on its Facebook page.
“He has spent late nights, weekends and has provided around the clock support for his club and for his school.”
The chapter calls Dewie Brewton “a man who would give everything he had to make sure that his children/students are taken care of.”