The Sebastian Sebastian Story
Yes it involves kids, but unfortunately, this article is not about a talking crab from a Disney movie...
WTF openly acknowledges we will use 10 lbs. of words to tell a 5 lbs. story. This is primarily to be as transparent and informative as possible. WTF also realizes that only some people want to get into that level of detail. So we are trying out something new, the Too Long; Didn’t Read (TL;DR) summary. This will allow you to get the main points, and if you are still interested, you can dig deeper by reading the whole article.
TL;DR Summary
As promised, albeit a couple of weeks late, we have the story of Sebastian Sebastian, a former music teacher at Carrsville Elementary School who “resigned” in December 2018. This story is an excellent example of how school employees can afoul the law, but if they avoid being charged by the judicial system, they can continue to teach and interact with children. WTF recently published another article about an IWCS pedophile teacher, Andrew Henson, that you should read in conjunction with this one.
IWCS unknowingly hired a guy (Sebastian Sebastian) who was previously investigated for child pornography as an elementary school music teacher. Sebastian hid his child pornography past by lying on his Virginia teaching license application and because law enforcement never charged him despite having evidence of him possessing child pornography. Sebastian was ultimately fired when IWCS became aware he lied on his application by not disclosing the child pornography investigation and subsequent loss of his Georgia teaching license. Despite all this, it appears Sebastian still has access to children as a private music teacher in Georgia. IWCS did a good job initially handling the situation. However, their continued unwillingness to “comment on personnel issues” means that they have never come clean with students and parents about situations in which students were exposed to pedophiles in the classroom. IWCS should have no shame in their initial actions for both this case and Andrew Henson; nothing could have been done to prevent it, but unwillingness to be transparent with parents and students once they have substantiated the allegations is troubling. Looking at the bigger picture, for various reasons (some legit, some not so much), it takes over a year usually for administrative action to be complete and become public in these pedophile incidents if law enforcement doesn’t file charges. That is a long time for parents to find out (if they ever are informed) their children were exposed to a pedophile in school.
In our best Paul Harvey voice, here is “the rest of the story…”
Who is Sebastian Sebastian?
Picture from Windsor Weekly
Sebastian Sebastian is a university-trained classical musician. Like many music majors, he went into teaching as a profession and conducting private lessons as a side gig. In 2017, he was credibly investigated, but not charged, for possession of child pornography by law enforcement in Georgia. As a result of the investigation, Sebastian was ultimately fired from a teaching position in Georgia. He then moved to Virginia to teach at two additional schools, including in Isle of Wight County, where he was fired for failing to disclose that he previously had his license revoked. Today, it appears he is still teaching children through private lessons at the Gwinnett Music School.
Georgia Child Pornography Incident
Sebastian was hired as an orchestra teacher in January 2017 at Richard Hull Middle School in Georgia. In addition to teaching at the school, he also conducted private lessons on the side. Around March 2017, Georgia law enforcement executed a search warrant against Sebastian’s home, seizing a computer where child pornography was discovered through forensic analysis. The search warrant is generated based on information gained through a task force targeting child pornography.
**** WARNING SICKENING DESCRIPTION OF WHAT WAS FOUND BY LAW ENFORCEMENT ****
The pornography “included a prepubescent female taking her clothing off exposing her underdeveloped breasts as well as a video depicting an underage female masturbating and having intercourse with an adult male and female.”
Despite these files being found on a computer he owned that was seized from his house, law enforcement could not bring charges (sounds eerily like Andrew Henson). Sebastian tells the police, “his customers used the computer”… ok groomer… For whatever reason, charges are not brought against Sebastian. No idea why charges weren’t filed; there could be a lot of reasons, as the recent Chesterfield County/Tim Anderson/Rock Church pastor incident showed. However, it is also clear Sebastian was not exonerated by law enforcement. We can also presume law enforcement was confident the material belonged to Sebastian, or they likely would not have shared the level of detail regarding the material with the school system. Equally concerning as Sebastian not being charged; is Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) did not find out about the situation until August 2017, and then it was only through an anonymous tip. It is not inconceivable that without the anonymous tip, GCPS is never made aware of the situation. On February 12, 2018 (11 months after law enforcement discovered the child pornography and 6 months after GCPS was first notified), Sebastian resigned and was finally out of the classroom and away from students. In March 2018, GCPS referred the case to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GPSC), the governing body for Georgia Teaching Licenses. The GPSC agreed to revoke Sebastian’s teaching license on August 13, 2018, and it became official 30 days later (September 10, 2018) after the appeal period; Sebastian did not request an appeal and elected not to participate in any of the revocation process (again eerily similar to Andrew Henson).
IWCS Hires a New Music Teacher for Carrsville Elementary
On June 20, 2018, Sebastian applied for a Virginia teaching license. As part of the application, Sebastian answers “no” to the following two questions:
- Are you currently the subject of any review, inquiry, investigation, or appeal of alleged misconduct that could warrant discipline or termination by a school division or other education-related employer or an adverse action against a teaching, administrator, pupil personnel services, or other education-related license or certificate? Please note: This includes any open investigation by or pending proceeding with a child protection agency and any pending criminal charges.
- Have you ever left any education- or school-related employment, voluntarily or involuntarily, under any of the following circumstances: (1) while the subject of a review, inquiry, investigation, or appeal of alleged misconduct; (2) when you had reason to believe a review, inquiry, investigation or appeal of alleged misconduct was under way or imminent; or (3) while any administrative or judicial proceeding involving an allegation of misconduct was pending, eligible for appeal, or under appeal? Please note: This includes any open investigation by or pending proceeding with a child protection agency and any pending criminal charges.
Additionally, Sebastian did not list any full-time, contractual teaching experience or any out-of-state teaching licenses. The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), completely unwitting of Sebastian’s transgressions in Georgia, issued a “Statement of Eligibility” on September 21, 2018 (ironically 11 days after Sebastian’s Georgia license was officially revoked). On August 15, 2018, Isle of Wight County Schools (IWCS) hired Sebastian as a music teacher for Carrsville Elementary School. It is unclear if a “Statement of Eligibility” from VDOE is required before school divisions can hire unlicensed teachers; the assumption is applying for a Statement of Eligibility through VDOE meets the minimum requirement.
Sebastian’s Lies Start to Unravel
On October 2, 2018, Georgia reported Sebastian’s license revocation to the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC). NASDTEC is “a professional membership organization representing state departments of education and professional standards boards/commissions that are responsible for the preparation, licensure, and discipline of K-12 education personnel. In short, NASDTEC is a national clearinghouse for K-12 education licenses. It is the best means for states and verify K-12 teaching credentials and get notification of adverse behavior by educators. NASDTEC states on average 6,000 educators per year have adverse actions taken against their licenses for serious misconduct that deems them unsafe to be in the classroom. NASDTEC also says most educator misconduct cases are handled in administrative hearings (like license revocation), not criminal courts. It is not uncommon for an educator who has an adverse action taken against them in one state to go to another state to apply for education positions. At some point after October, IWCS became aware of Sebastian’s Georgia license being revoked and confronted him. Sebastian resigned from his position at Carrsville Elementary in December 2018. IWCS then pursued having Sebastian’s license application denied, which was granted by VDOE on April 23, 2019. This is important because it creates a record of the situation in VDOE’s database and another in NASDTEC’s database. IWCS should be commended for pursuing this when they probably could have avoided the paperwork and process and been satisfied with securing Sebastian’s resignation.
But Wait, There’s More!
Sebastian is nothing if not persistent and shameless. According to his current biography, after resigning from Carrsville Elementary, Sebastian went on to Good Shepard Episcopal School in Richmond. Sebastian likely targeted a private school because they do not need to communicate with VDOE or require a statement of eligibility from VDOE when they hire a new teacher. It’s probably a good bet that Sebastian did not disclose any of the Georgia or Isle of Wight information when he applied. Likely at some point, Good Shepard figured it out and fired him. From there, it looks like Sebastian returned to Georgia and now provides private lessons (to kids) through the Gwinnett School of Music. Today, Sebastian proudly proclaims his employment at all three schools he was fired from, including taking credit for starting music programs at Carrsville and Good Shepard. Clearly, he has no shame. It is unclear if Gwinnett School of Music knows Sebastian’s past. Since he lists the three schools he has been fired from, Gwinnett School of Music presumably could have checked references. If they have only depended on Google, it makes sense he is still employed because you will find nothing you have read today via a simple Google search.
The Bigger Picture
Here at WTF, we don’t aim to only tell a story but also to opine how stories like this feed into a bigger picture. Much like the Andrew Henson story, the most obvious takeaway is how long it takes to adjudicate situations like this and the inability for criminal charges to be brought to bear in the face of seemingly direct evidence of crimes against children.
Additionally, cases like Sebastian’s show that even after adjudication, pedophiles can still find ways to put themselves into positions where they have access to children. The lack of criminal charges is an important aspect. If the legal system does not bring charges in these situations, the pedophile’s criminal background check will come back clean. Unless an employer uses NASDTEC (limited mostly to K-12 public schools), they will never know about the administrative action against the pedophile. Additionally, the only way things like this typically find their way into the news (and later into a Google search) is through criminal charges.
Thanks to the recent Smithfield Times article about Andrew Henson, a Google search now shows the whole Andrew Henson story
School divisions, like IWCS, have no interest in acknowledging incidents like this, even long after they are adjudicated and made into the public record. Steve Stewart addressed this issue this week in the Smithfield Times. While WTF can understand (but not fully agree with) the argument that the employee has a right to privacy. That must be balanced against the safety of the students exposed to these pedophiles. Once the misconduct has been adjudicated, there is no reason for a school system to continue to “protect their privacy.” In fact, the Supreme Court of Virginia recently released a majority opinion providing a clear delineation between “personal information” and “personnel information.” This opinion can be summarized in its simplest form as; “personal information” are things like phone number, address, things that are specific to an individual regardless of their employment, “Personnel information” are things like investigation results, resignation letters, things that come into being by virtue of a person being employed. In other words, IWCS has no excuse not to share more about these situations once everything has been adjudicated.
School divisions absolutely abhor criticism from the public and don’t want to be questioned about what they could have done differently. The irony in the Henson and Sebastian cases is initially, IWCS acted quickly and responsibly, as best we can tell. Henson was immediately removed from the classroom through suspension. Sebastian was fired as soon as IWCS became aware of his fraudulent past. However, it seems IWCS did not share this information with parents or students who could have been victimized by Henson or Sebastian. It is unclear how something like Henson’s case gets thoroughly investigated without asking students or informing parents so they can ask their children if they were ever solicited or propositioned by Henson. At what point does the balance shift from protecting the employee’s privacy to protecting children who may have been victimized; one would assume that balance has definitely shifted once the school system is willing to report the incident to the state and their license is revoked. Does anyone believe that if IWCS found out tomorrow that a teacher is having a sexual relationship with a student, the parents of other potentially affected students would be informed within the next 12 months based on the Henson and Sebastian cases?