A TCPalm exclusive report on a Port St. Lucie private school and its ongoing questions about the state's oversight of it — including an extensive public records request — preceded the Florida Department of Education's visit to the school Wednesday.

Nation Christian Academy has been the subject of TCPalm's ongoing investigation since the Oct. 31 publication of a story revealing YouTube audio of Coach Mike Woodbury berating and threatening a student from Haiti who played basketball.

At the time, Woodbury also was listing himself on various records as CEO and/or president, but TCPalm does not know his role in the school today. In a Nov. 9 email to DOE, school officials were changing the name from Nation Christian and the ownership from Woodbury to "Barnabas Christian," and referenced “the measures we have taken, since last week’s viral video.”

Read:TCPalm's latest story in its ongoing investigation

TCPalm, which recently discovered Woodbury has a criminal record in Maine, is investigating whether the school is in compliance with all city, county, state and federal laws and policies regarding:

The paperwork private schools are required to provide DOE

Three sources of state taxpayer-funded scholarship money the school receives

Safety of the school building, shuttle buses and food service

The health and welfare of students

TCPalm also is investigating whether the DOE and its School Choice Office conducted proper oversight regarding the state-mandated collection of all the required paperwork.

Despite TCPalm's repeated requests for public records, DOE has not completely fulfilled an initial Nov. 27 request for specific documents or an expanded Dec. 18 request for all documents related to the school. DOE has provided TCPalm some limited documents.

The department notified TCPalm late Tuesday it planned to visit the school "to ensure compliance with the rules and regulations that govern schools that participate in scholarship programs." DOE said it would review background screenings, educator qualifications and student files "to confirm that public safety records are complete and up to date; and ensure that the required notices regarding abuse reporting are posted."

In response to TCPalm's questions Wednesday about who would investigate, when, whether they had notified school officials, whether they had reviewed the records TCPalm requested and whether they had found any violations, DOE wrote:

"The site visit to Barnabas took place today as part of our regularly scheduled site visits. The school’s director, Elizabeth Bell, was notified three weeks ago that a visit was imminent. We have no indication that the school is currently in violation of any statute or rule. If the results of our site visit show otherwise, we will take appropriate action."

School officials declined to answer TCPalm's questions Wednesday.

Ray Askew, a top school administrator who told DOE he was “taking over business functionality for Barnabas Christian School,” declined to comment and hung up on a TCPalm reporter.

Woodbury also declined to comment, except to say, "We don't need to be distracted by nonsense."

The Port St. Lucie Police Department is investigating a mother's myriad complaints about her son's experience at the school, which echo the complaints of several former student athletes, which TCPalm reported on Dec. 7.

Woodbury's criminal history

Woodbury's criminal history is detailed in court records the school gave DOE on Sept. 10 — before TCPalm began investigating and after DOE's repeated requests.

In September 2006, Woodbury was charged in Oakland, Maine, with assault and making threats of violence — termed in Maine statutes as “terrorizing.” DOE records do not contain details of the incident. TCPalm is awaiting arrest records requested from the Oakland Police Department and Kennebec County court records.

In that incident, Woodbury pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct and received a deferred judgment. He was ordered to participate in anger management counselling and to refrain from contacting the victim, in addition to donating $1,000 each to the Boys & Girls Clubs Rebound to Success program and the Pine Tree Camp, a summer camp in Maine for children with disabilities.

In February 2006, Woodbury was arrested on an assault charge in Waterville, Maine, where he lived intermittently from 1995 through 2008. Formal charges never were filed. DOE records do not contain details of the incident or indicate whether the February and September proceedings stem from separate incidents. TCPalm is awaiting arrest records requested from the Waterville Police Department.

In August 1999, Woodbury was accused of refusing to sign a criminal summons ordering him to appear in court in Waterville. The charge was dismissed in 2000 after he paid a $50 fine. DOE records do not explain why Woodbury was issued a summons.

In October 1995, around his 20th birthday, Woodbury was charged with theft in Freeport, Maine, for which he pleaded guilty and paid a $175 fine. DOE records do not contain details of the incident. TCPalm is awaiting arrest records it requested from the Freeport Police Department and Sagadahoc County courts.

Josh Tardy, Woodbury's attorney in Maine, told the DOE the incident stemmed from a "college prank," according to a September 2018 email.

Other troubles

In November 2015, Southern Maine Community College in South Portland asked the Police Department to issue Woodbury a no-trespass order for one year after he physically attacked a man in a campus hallway, according to published news reports.

Woodbury, who was not charged in the incident, is seen in a surveillance video, published by the Portland Press Herald, which reported he had rented the college's gym for an AAU basketball tournament. Young players in basketball uniforms, who can be seen in the background of the video, appear to leave with Woodbury after the fight ends.

The South Portland Police Department would not give TCPalm a copy of the no-trespass order, saying it was not a public record in Maine.

Back in Port St. Lucie, Woodbury and wife Patricia were served an eviction notice in February 2018 from a leased home on Bella Strano in late December 2017. They owed nearly $5,000 in rent and other charges, court records show.

The landlord, who dropped the case about a week after filing the eviction, and the landlord's attorney did not return TCPalm's calls for comment. Woodbury listed the home as his address in a record he filed to the state on Sept. 4, 2018.

On Jan. 30, former football coach Bill Powers filed a lawsuit against Woodbury and Nation Christian for unpaid earnings, which TCPalm reported on in its Dec. 7 investigation. Powers claims he's owed commission from over $350,000 in revenue he generated for the school through its post-graduate football program.

The court on Jan. 31 served the school and Woodbury, which have 20 days to respond. Court records do not indicated they had responded as of Wednesday.

Scholarship money

The K-12 school operates in a 48,466-square-foot storefront in The Market Place strip mall on U.S. 1, just north of Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

DOE in December told TCPalm the school participates in three scholarship programs:

Florida Tax Credit, which is for low-income students

McKay, which is for students with disabilities

Gardiner, which also is for students with disabilities.

The school has received $3.4 million in McKay and Florida Tax Credit funds since 2014, DOE records show, but they do not contain any information about Gardiner funds.

DOE also told TCPalm "they do not participate in the Hope scholarship program," which is for victims of violence and bullying. However, Askew told DOE in an Aug. 21 email that a student who participates in the HOPE program had an annual tuition of $10,000.

DOE had emailed the school that same day to question a $10,000 charge for a student's transportation, saying the charges “appear to be inflated.”

Homeland Security

The school must file Homeland Security Form I-20 for its international students to attend — before a student is allowed to enroll in classes in the U.S.

Former Principal John Adams told TCPalm Wednesday he resigned effective July 5 and did not sign the form bearing his name and signature, dated July 21, for Jordi Maatkamp, a soccer player from the Netherlands.

TCPalm previously reported Adams resigned in July because of Woodbury.

Adams said not only does the signature not match his, he was not in Florida for several weeks during that time period.

He said he was one of two school officials allowed to sign immigration paperwork, so he often signed I-20 forms, but only after working extensively with students’ families to be sure their children met academic and financial requirements.

Adams told TCPalm he had had no contact with Maatkamp’s mother, Ester, who signed the form Aug. 5, before she emailed him with concerns in January.

TCPalm is awaiting Homeland Security to answer its public records request and questions about this form.

Port St. Lucie police

The Port St. Lucie Police Department confirmed Chief John Bolduc received a Jan. 15 complaint from Ester Maatkamp, which she shared with TCPalm, and said he had assigned the case to a detective, who was investigating.

The Police Department declined to answer TCPalm's questions about that investigation Wednesday, except to say it was ongoing.

TCPalm will continue to investigate and pursue its public records requests.