FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – The band director of Matanzas High School abruptly resigned last month, sparking speculation and rumors. Flagler County officials now admit they caught Steven Knob looking at pornography on a school computer.
In announcing that Matanzas had a new band director, Principal Chris Pryor posted to the school's website that Knob "stepped down due to family medical issues."
According to FlaglerLive.com, Pryor and two other school officials caught Knob, 51, downloading porn on his school-issued laptop before classes on Oct. 7. Knob resigned the same day.
"It was happening during the school day, but not during class time," School Board attorney Kristy Gavin told FlaglerLive. "As far as the district knows, none of the material downloaded is illegal."
Gavin said Knob was caught looking at adult porn after the school's server crashed and the IT department was in the midst of fixing it. She said technicians came across the explicit pictures in a folder logged under "administrator," and after further investigation, Gavin said, the principal caught Knob at school in the act.
On Monday, Flagler County Superintendent Janet Valentine confirmed that Knob resigned because he was using the school computer to look at inappropriate images.
Knob, who admitted to FlaglerLive that he made a big mistake, said he was under the impression that the school district would not reveal why he resigned.
"I made an extremely poor personal choice," he said. "This is completely a private matter. No one else was involved or anything. That's all I can tell you."
Knob had a distinguished 25-year career as a music educator and had led the band program at Matanzas for the past five years. This year, he also began teaching at
Indian Trails Middle School.
Many students at Matanzas High School said they couldn't believe the reason for Knob's resignation.
"You wouldn't think that people like him would do stuff that drastic at school," one student said.
Many parents were appalled to learn this happened to a longtime teacher.
"This is somebody that these kids look up to, so you know, with that being said, they're going to think it's OK," parent Mystie Dronick said.
County officials say Knob's actions were not illegal, but were in violation of school district policy. While he will never work in Flagler County again, it is up to the Department of Education in Tallahassee whether Knob will lose his teaching license.
The school is trying to figure out how to tighten online security without constraining the student's education.
"That's the difficult line and the tight rope that we walk is, finding where you put the filters on so that students can still have access to the information and material, because the Internet is a great tool, and if you constrain it too much, now they don't have the ability to use that tool for their benefit," Gavin said. "So it's a blessing and then it's also a curse."
Meanwhile, Gavin said Knob has never had any problems in the past.
"This gentleman had an exemplary career and spotless record," she said. "His evaluations were exemplary. He made a misstep."