Brevard County District 2 School Board candidate Gene Trent has come under fire for apparently providing false information on his teacher application for Brevard Public Schools (BPS). Trent, a 20 year math teacher, is currently employed by BPS. According to public records, when filling out the ‘Criminal Background’ portion of his application for employment, he selected “no” when asked if he had ever been physically arrested or had a criminal charge.
A background check shows at least one arrest for Battery in 1999 in the State of Illinois.
Last May, we questioned Trent about this arrest and he explained his side of the story. That conversation is below. We decided not to report on this arrest because of the length of time that had passed, and it would likely not have affected his employment application with BPS for the same reason.
The reason we are reporting it now is because the more recent application to BPS, and the apparent withholding of information on his application. According to BPS policy and state law, had he disclosed the arrest, it would likely not have been a determining factor in his employment consideration. However, now that he is running for an elected position for the public trust, we feel it may be information that voters would like to know.
Also, according the BPS Human Resources, providing false or inaccurate information on an employment application could result in immediate termination. It is not clear if BPS is aware of this particular case or not as of the writing of this article.
There appears to be a potential second arrest in his background check as well for illegal consumption or selling of alcohol in 1994. No further information was immediately available. We asked Gene for comment prior to the writing of this article and he did not respond.
