LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — The principal of Pinellas Preparatory Academy has addressed the situation following allegations against a teacher accused of attempting to send inappropriate content to a minor.
Lee Hughes was arrested in early May. It’s not a situation Principal Jessica Hill expected to deal with.
“I believe each day is an improvement. The incident was certainly a surprise,” Hill remarked when discussing the reactions of parents and students at the academy.
Hill expressed a desire to share their perspective. Although the school had previously released statements on the matter, Hill wanted to offer additional insights into their future plans.
Mallory Young’s daughter was a student in Hughes’ class.
“She loved him. She really liked him. She thought he was a really good teacher,” Young said. “She’s doing better now; she took it very hard. She was very emotional. She couldn’t understand why someone who she thought was so good could do something so bad.”
Court documents said from June 2024 to May 2025 Hughes consistently engaged in conversation with an undercover investigator about sexual abuse he’d like to inflict upon a 9-year-old girl.
Principal Hill said the FBI did a Q&A session with PPA where they told parents the FBI didn’t have this case until recently and that another department who was in the chatroom, as an unknown user, was on the case.
“It was explained that it was not known up until a few days prior to his arrest of who he was and where he worked and his location,” Hill said.
The same documents said, through law enforcement investigation, it was discovered that Hughes was a third-grade teacher. It does not say when exactly the discovery was made and by whom.
This information doesn’t give much leeway for a principal trying to protect her students.
“I could’ve run his fingerprints on Wednesday of that week and he would’ve come back clean because there were no prior arrests. And so it’s unfortunate, it’s just one of those things that there were no signs. There were no red flags,” Hill said.
News Channel 8 On Your Side asked the principal how the school will be proactive going forward. Hill responded saying she must follow the hiring process but is trying to explore options with the help of officials.
“Working with FBI and law enforcement, if there is anything that is available for us to implement with our staff training wise, making sure that we have the highest quality, qualified teachers on campus,” Hill said.
