School Board member cleared of inappropriately touching student
Broward School Board member Brenda Fam will face no ethics violations related to an allegation that she touched the buttocks of an 18-year-old student.
The Ethics Commission concluded that while Fam touched the student, “it appeared to be unintentional” and the “wrongful intent necessary for a violation is not present,” according to a report.
The incident happened at a student leadership event March 27 at the Signature Grand in Davie. The student alerted a district employee the next day, and his principal asked him to write a statement.
The student wrote that Fam “reached her hand to my bottom area and squeezed … and then said, “‘Oh my God, I just pulled a Zeman. I’m so sorry.'”
The statement refers to School Board member Allen Zeman, who was accused of patting a male district employee on the buttocks in December. The employee didn’t file a complaint, but the incident became publicized as then-Superintendent Vickie Cartwright was in separation negotiations and some board members accused her of trying to use the incident as leverage.
After the allegation against Fam surfaced, the School Board considered in April hiring an outside investigator to review both cases but ultimately decided to turn them over to the Ethics Commission. The commission ruled in August there was no probable cause to cite Zeman for a violation.
In the Fam case, the Ethics Commission spoke with the student’s father, who described the incident as an accident, according to the report.
“According to the father, his child explained to him that [Fam] lost her balance, and, as she began to fall, she reached out, accidentally touching the child’s lower back area,” the report said, adding the student believes the actions “were unintentional, and not sexual.”
The father told the investigator his son has graduated, is in college now and didn’t want to pursue the matter any further.
“The father explained that he, and his child, never believed this incident would rise to the level it reached because they believed this was an unintentional accident,” the report said.
Fam could not be reached by the Sun Sentinel on Wednesday. She told the investigator “this incident occurred when she lost her balance while taking pictures, and, unintentionally, she touched the student, but not in any inappropriate way.”
She told an investigator she thought the allegation was motivated by politics. Fam, a Republican, is the most outspoken conservative on a majority-Democrat board.
Fam told the investigator “the allegation made against her is false,” and, as a result, it’s led to being “heavily scrutinized in the public’s eye,” the report said.