Former Hudson High Teachers Arrested For Cheating On Tests: FDLE

HUDSON, FL — After more than a year of investigating, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has arrested three former Hudson High School teachers for submitting false test scores on students' agricultural certification exams.

In the fall of 2020, Pasco school officials noted higher-than-normal testing and pass rates at Hudson High School for Agriculture Education Services and Technology certification exams.

A subsidiary of the Florida Farm Bureau, Agriculture Education Services and Technology offers high school certifications in forestry, animal science, natural resources, unmanned aircraft systems, agricultural biotechnology, agricultural communications and agricultural mechanics.

When school officials began looking into the discrepancies at Hudson High School, they hit a brick wall because the school district doesn't have access to Agriculture Education Services and Technology testing materials and test results. Agriculture Education Services and Technology manages the scoring of tests and oversees the certifications.

Therefore, in the spring of 2021, Agriculture Education Services and Technology conducted a statewide audit and confirmed the school district's suspicions about the unusually high pass rate at Hudson High.

With confirmation in hand, Pasco school officials contacted the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, which passed on the investigation to the FDLE.

The FDLE investigation showed that Hudson High School teachers helped students take agricultural certification exams by allowing them to use study guides during exams and, in some cases, teachers took the exams for the students.

The FDLE found that students at Hudson High took more certification exams than any other school in Florida, completed the tests in less than half the time of other students at other Florida schools, and had much higher pass rates.

Teachers receive additional funds when their students pass the exams, noted the school district. More than 1,000 certification tests from Hudson High School have been invalidated by AEST.

“We are extremely disappointed in these teachers who were placed in a position of trust, and repeatedly chose to violate that trust,” said Browning. “They took advantage of students for personal gain, and that kind of behavior is shocking to teachers everywhere who sacrifice for their students every day.”

All three teachers were arrested Thursday and charged with an organized scheme to defraud.

Harold “Jim” Martin, 47, who has worked for the school district since 2019, has been on unpaid leave since September 2021.

Robert Herrington, 38, who was hired in 2015, resigned in September 2021 at the beginning of the investigation.

Kathleen Troutman, 31, hired in 2014, resigned in May 2020.

“I want to thank the FDLE for conducting an extremely thorough investigation, and to thank AEST for their assistance” Browning said. “These are complex cases with multiple victims, and they did a tremendous job of sorting it all out.”

Over the past year, Browning said Pasco Schools has worked with AEST and the Florida Department of Education to put additional safeguards in place to ensure testing is secure, including stricter security protocols during tests, validation at the district level that a test has been taken and a multi-panel review of all testing data.

AEST and the Florida Department of Education are also making arrangements for the students to retake the certification tests for free.

Additionally, Browning said the school district is working with AEST and the Florida Department of Education to make sure that funds collected by the teachers for passing the students are returned.