A South Florida teacher accused of stealing $60 in cash to use for gas money has resigned a day before he was expected to be fired.
Matthew Csoka, a crisis intervention teacher at William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens, resigned Tuesday, a day before the Palm Beach County School Board was set to vote on his firing, WPTV reported.
Csoka, 51, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor petit theft in July after he allegedly stole $60 from a student’s book bag inside the boys locker room while the student was in gym class.
According to an incident report from the district’s police department, a student noticed money missing from his book bag on three separate occasions.
The student then secretly recorded Csoka on Oct. 27, 2022, opening the boy’s book bag and unzipping several pockets.
The student showed the video to a sports coach, who set up his own camera and recorded Csoka entering the locked boys locker room and “going through multiple bookbags on multiple occasions on various days,” the incident report said.
School police met with Csoka and showed him the video, and he admitted to stealing $60 from the student, adding that he had been going through students’ bags “for a long time,” the report said.
Csoka said “he did not have gas one day and left his wallet at home, and that he was ashamed to ask administration for money,” the report said.
Under his guilty plea, Csoka was given six months of probation, 15 hours of community service, and had to take a theft abatement course.
Csoka was hired by the district in February 2008 and had been at the school since July 2022. He had been suspended before submitting his resignation.