FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Broward County Public Schools teacher was arrested and charged for alleged inappropriate behavior involving a student.
Basil Billings was placed under arrest on Thursday night. The 63-year-old is facing charges of offense against a student by an authority figure and lewd and lascivious touching of a minor.
According to the arrest report, the student in this case is 16 or 17 years old.
Accordng to BCPS’s website, Billings is listed as a reading teacher at Dillard High 6-12 in Fort Lauderdale. Police said Billings was a teacher at this school during the alleged incidents involving the teen.
The arrest report states the suspect “attempted to have an inappropriate relationship with a student, including inappropriate comments, notes and physical touching.”
In one alleged incident, “While they were hugging, Basil Sylvester Billings squeezed Victim body against his body. Basil Sylvester Billings then released Victim from his over aggressive hug and when he did so Basil Sylvester Billings used his hand and intentionally grabbed her breast for a few seconds,” the arrest affidavit states.
The student later “decided to secretly record on her cell phone the conversation that she had with Basil Sylvester Billings which Victim provided to law enforcement.”
A spokesperson for BCPS said Billings has been reassigned away from the school and students due to the ongoing case.
“On May 1, 2026, Basil Billings was placed on administrative reassignment away from the school and students, due to the ongoing investigation. The district will take all appropriate future actions, up to and including termination, based on the outcome of the case.”
In court Friday, Billings was given a $35,000 bond and ordered to stay from any school campus.
“He’s not to have any contact with minors, no contact with the alleged victim. He’s not to return to any school campuses,” said Broward Circuit Court Judge Corey B. Friedman.
Billings has since bonded out of jail.
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