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Osceola County teacher barred from classroom after allegedly partying with students

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — 9 Investigates found out an Osceola County middle school teacher will never teach in Florida again after the state education board permanently revoked her teaching certificate and barred her from applying for one in the future.

Mary Kathleen Cedano, 41, worked as a technical education teacher at Discovery Intermediate School in Kissimmee.

According to the order filed by the Education Practices Commission of the State of Florida, Cedano “invited four female students into her home…consumed alcohol in the presence of the students and allowed the students to access alcohol.”

In the documents, the education commission also said Cedano “allowed a 14-year-old female student to drive” even though she knew the girl “was under the legal age to operate a motor vehicle.”

According to the documents, Cedano also “sent inappropriate text messages to a juvenile male student,” with “expressions of love” and “told him that she cried because he was ignoring her” and told him “she treated him different because she loved him.”

The School District of Osceola County said Cedano worked at the district twice, once from March through June 2012 and again from August 2012 through June 2013, just months before she was charged with the misdemeanors.

In 2013, Cedano was charged with four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of permitting unauthorized operator to drive.

In 2014, she was found guilty on two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of permitting unauthorized user to drive.

When Channel 9 reporter Mike Manzoni went to Cedano’s last known address in Kissimmee, no one answered the door.