Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is calling for Sarasota County Schools to fire a teacher after she allegedly harassed an eighth-grader over his conservative views.
Pine View School history teacher Liz Ballard allegedly called the student a “misogynist,” Uthmeier said. According to the attorney general’s letter to Superintendent Terry Connor, the boy told Ballard that his parents “expressly forbid him” from engaging in political discussion in the classroom. Ballard disregarded the parents’ desire and “continued to engage this student as the conservative perspective in the classroom.” She then spread the “misogynist” label around the school and “openly questioned the suitability and influence of the student’s father,” Uthmeier explained.
“Ms. Ballard singled out this student and, in defiance of his parents’ express instructions, pressured him to defend political positions on demand in front of his classmates,” the attorney general wrote. “She made disparaging remarks about his father. And by facilitating the spread of a damaging label throughout the school, she engaged in the reputational destruction of a child.”
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Uthmeier called for Ballard to be dismissed from the school and her educator certificate to be revoked.
President of the Sarasota Classified Teachers Association, Jason Means, told WFLA that Ballard is a great teacher at a great school, Pine View’s a great school.” He said Uthmeier “might have, you know, overstepped his bounds a little bit. I mean, obviously it’s within the laws of the state of Florida, and I can see where he would say that he would have the right to send such a letter. I feel like that he might have bigger fish to fry.”
Connor acknowledged the letter. “Every student deserves a classroom where they feel safe, respected, and free to learn,” he said. “No student should face harassment, humiliation, or retaliation because of their beliefs or their family’s views. Respect for students and parents is fundamental to the trust our community places in our schools.”
Similarly, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year, Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to the state’s school district superintendents, warning them that they must maintain professional conduct or face repercussions.
The memorandum served “to remind superintendents and their employees that they are held to a higher standard as public servants,” it explained, adding that First Amendment rights “do not extend without limit into their professional duties.”
This article originally appeared on American Faith and is reposted with permission.
