Former Santa Rosa District Schools employee arrested on larceny charge
The district became aware of Short’s alleged misconduct after a tip was made to Assistant Superintendent Michael Thorpe about “possible educator misconduct regarding financial transactions (Short) made as both director of In-Service and Instructional Technology and in (Short’s) role as treasurer for the Santa Rosa County Association for School Administrators.”
On July 30, 2024, Short was placed on non-disciplinary paid administrative leave. The school board was informed of the placement during its August 2024 meeting. Following an investigation into allegations, on Oct. 24, 2025, the district sent Short a notice of suspension without pay and a petition for dismissal of employment. Short chose to resign Oct. 25.
According to the suspension notice, Short provided altered bank statements to SRCASA officers on July 3, 2024, that didn’t match bank statements subsequently obtained from the bank on July 16, 2024. She also allegedly submitted fraudulent documentation to SRCASA by altering a written quote from Gulf Coast Tents that she represented as an invoice, which was used by Short for the basis of a reimbursement payment of $221.55 to herself. There were other similar fraudulent reimbursements mentioned in the notice.
In July 2022, Short allegedly made a request to the Santa Rosa Education Foundation for $1,000 for costs associated with SPARK, an administrative conference held July 28 of that year. The gift card, which those funds were tied to, was not purchased until after the conference. Purchases made on the gift card after the conference constituted a “misuse of funds.” Some of these misuses included purchases at restaurants in August 2022 and October 2022.
According to investigators, Short admitted to altering financial records related to purchases for her own financial gain. An example of this occurred in June 2023, when Short made two purchases at Sam’s Club on two separate days (June 3 and June 15). The invoices submitted to the school district both had the same order number.
In terms of numbers, the school district investigators concluded that Short engaged in the following:
– $441 in overdraft charges (as confirmed by bank statements from July 2022 to June 2024)
– $277.97 Open Rose purchase. (No receipts provided or indication of the purpose of the purchase)
– $210 Retirement reimbursement but no receipts or identification of who retired.
– $126.25 Bank statement provided by Short states that transaction is to Sodexo for remaining breakfast balance but check is written to Short and not Sodexo with no receipt.
– $178.50 Short turned in an invoice from June 2022 and was reimbursed for more than the invoice of $175. She was reimbursed for this invoice originally in 2020. Investigators concluded she intentionally deceived SRCASA by providing a receipt for which Short had already been reimbursed.
– $92.02 Missing deposit amount, verified by bank statements.
– $995 Reimbursement check written to her with no receipts. This was altered by Short on a bank statement she provided.
– $178.91 Reimbursement check written to her, but no receipts provided.
– $117.62 Reimbursement check written to her, but no receipts provided.
– $128.40 Reimbursement check written to her, but no receipts provided.
– $65 Reimbursement check written to her, but no receipts provided.
– Short provided a false report to the SRCASA Board regarding end of year balance June 22-23.
Before serving as director of the Office of Professional Learning, Short had worked in the school district as a teacher and administrator at schools across Santa Rosa County.
Short was booked into Santa Rosa County Jail March 10, 2025 and released a few hours later.