Surrogate Mother Who Won Custody Now Out Of Job, Under Investigation
POSTED: Monday, October 6, 2008
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The last time Stephanie Eckard was in the news, she had just won a custody battle with an Orlando couple over a surrogate child.
Now Eckard is embroiled in more controversy amid allegations she lied about a medical condition -- radical mastectomy -- and forged documents to affect her job as a Duval County school teacher.
Personnel records Channel 4 obtained from the Duval County School Board show Eckerd worked as a fifth-grade teacher at Hyde Grove Elementary until early this year, when she tendered an "irrevocable" resignation.
Dan Leveton of
the local station learned that the resignation came as Eckard was being investigated by the school system's office of professional standards.
According to a school district memorandum, Eckard allegedly "reported a bogus radical mastectomy to her principal" and provided a doctor's note requesting light duty.
"The doctor's note was a forgery on letterhead which was generated from (the doctor's) web-site," the report says. "The doctor's note was not even a good facsimile."
The memo says the investigation was "sustained -- evidence proves allegations to be true."
No one with Duval County schools would comment on the investigation or Eckard's resignation. Eckard would not grant an interview to Channel 4, but told Leveton by phone that she resigned for personal reasons.
Despite the school board's investigation and Eckard's resignation, she continues to have custody of the 2-year-old girl at the center of last year's custody dispute.
Since a Duval County judge ruled in September 2007 that the surrogate contract with Tom and Gwen Lamintina was not valid, Eckard was also not awarded any child support.
Nine months after her resignation, Eckard is still unemployed.
Eckard said that the Department of Education is still investigating her case, but because of the seriousness of the allegations, it's unclear whether she would be eligible to work as a teacher again.
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