Jacksonville teacher allowed to keep license after Florida targeted her for flying Black Lives Matter flag – The Tributary

Amy Donofrio [left] awaits the Education Practices Commissions decision. [Nandhini Srinivasan / The Tributary]

A former Duval County teacher won her fight Thursday to keep her teaching license after the state targeted her for displaying a Black Lives Matter flag in a case that drew national attention.

Amy Donofrio, a former high school teacher, successfully argued the state had no right to go after her for the flag, despite Gov. Ron DeSantis administration targeting her as a public example of its war against what it has said is liberal influence in public schools.

An independent panel unanimously voted to reject any discipline related to the flag and instead accept a written reprimand not the probation and fine sought by the state of Donofrio.

As the district was considering changing the name of Robert E. Lee High School, students brought facemasks to her classroom that said, Robert E. Lee was a gang member. The panel issued the reprimand because of those masks but rejected the states attempt to discipline her for displaying the Black Lives Matter flag.

Donofrio celebrated her success in beating the state, but she and her lawyer said they may still appeal the written reprimand.

Donofrios case marks a failure for the DeSantis administrations efforts to punish teachers it has claimed were violating state standards by allegedly pushing liberal ideology in classrooms. Instead, an administrative judge found Donofrio had not compromised her students with the flag or masks.

The Florida Department of Education did not respond to repeated calls and emails with questions on whether the state would change any policies due to this case.

Donofrio woke up Thursday to notifications that someone had, again, left threats on her Facebook page, the latest in what she said has become standard for her in the three years ever since the state called her out for flying the Black Lives Matter flag.

As she drove that morning to Tampa, where the Education Practices Commission would decide to accept an administrative judges findings that she shouldnt have her license suspended, she recalled what brought her to Jacksonville in the first place.

I always wanted to be a teacher, nothing else, she told a reporter as she drove. And I did for 13 years what I loved to do what I felt like I was born to do.

She had taught at what was then called Robert E. Lee High School for nearly a decade. As a teacher, she became an advocate for her students, advising a class she called the EVAC Movement. In that role, she earned local and national plaudits from Republicans and Democrats alike for her work against gang violence and for racial justice.

READ: Court hearings set stage as Florida pursues Jacksonville teachers license over Black Lives Matter flag

That changed after the 2020 protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. In the year after Floyds murder, long after shed already begun displaying a Black Lives Matter flag, the district sent a newly drafted memo forbidding employees from displaying flags that supported social movements. The next school day, the schools principal told her to remove the flag or it will be removed for you.

The next day, the district removed her teaching responsibilities and reassigned her to work in a warehouse.

An administrative judge found the principal had given her the option of removing the flag or allowing someone else to remove it.

The state offered no proof, the judge wrote, that Donofrios display of the Black Lives Matter flag, or her refusal to remove it, failed to protect her students from conditions harmful to learning, or their mental or physical health.

DeSantis education commissioner at the time, Richard Corcoran, bragged publicly about Donofrios removal from the classroom saying he had helped orchestrate the districts discipline as part of the states effort to police teachers.

Ive censored or fired or terminated numerous teachers, Corcoran said before telling the story of having Donofrio removed from her classroom.

Donofrio sued the district and settled later that year when the district didnt renew her teaching contract.

But then the Florida Department of Education came after her teachers license, creating a high-profile showdown between DeSantis new conservative standards for teachers, the same standards he would highlight in his unsuccessful presidential run.

Politicians are trying to run up their poll numbers through these completely warrantless and baseless attacks on teachers, said Mark Richard, Donofrios lawyer.

By allowing a Black Lives Matter flag and facemasks that criticized the legacy of Robert E. Lee, the DOE alleged that Donofrio had not made enough effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to learning and/or to the students mental and/or physical health and/or safety. The department also said she had failed to take reasonable precautions to distinguish between her personal views and those of the district.

For three years Donofrio fought the state. Even though she no longer taught at the school district, she believed it was wrong for the state to remove her license and her ability to teach again in the future.

Of course, I would love to teach again, she said. Teachers across the state, she said, are afraid of the Florida Department of Education. Theyre afraid of Gov. DeSantis, to be on his bad side.

At a Duval County courthouse last year, Donofrio and the state put on witnesses and presented their arguments for two days before an administrative judge.

While the judge agreed with Donofrio that the Black Lives Matter flag didnt warrant any discipline, the judge wrote that a written reprimand was appropriate for the facemasks because Donofrio did not do enough to distinguish between her views and the districts views on Robert E. Lee.

The state had requested approval to put her teaching license on probation and issue a fine against her.

I felt like a weight that Ive been carrying for three years was at least partially lifted off of me, Donofrio said after the panel in Tampa accepted the judges recommendations. I felt a sense of some freedom, for the first time in a long time.

However, Donofrio said she may appeal the judges decision for a reprimand because she doesnt want the state to have a precedent that OKs any discipline for other teachers similarly caught in DeSantis crosshairs.

Essentially, the reprimand tells Donofrio that moving forward, if she has an opinion that differs from the districts position, she must make that clear to students, said Mark Richard, her lawyer. We think that was a mistake under the law, and well be considering appealing just that part he added.

Still, he said, on a legal front, this ruling once again affirms that a teacher can teach honestly, that a teacher should not be the victim of these political cultural wars.

Donofrio said ever since DeSantis education commissioner publicized her case, she has been the target of harassment and threats. After one threat, she said, she changed the locks to her home.

The past three years have been by far the hardest years of my life, the years where I have questioned things the most in my whole life, she said. Having her ability to teach taken away from her on top of the harassment, she said, shook her identity. Its shaken the way Ive seen the world.

In addition to going after individual teachers like Donofrio, DeSantis has prioritized a series of laws that have restricted what teachers are allowed to talk about in the classroom.

The STOP WOKE Act in 2022 barred teaching critical race theory and teaching that says people are oppressed based on their race. Another law banned teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity for grades eight and below, and it prohibited teaching that wasnt age-appropriate for high schoolers.

According to the American Library Association, nearly 2,700 books were targeted for restriction or removal in Florida schools and public libraries last year.

While Donofrio has retained her license to teach, it is unclear whether she will be able to do so in Duval County Public Schools. The district did not respond to requests for comment.

Due to an editors error, a prior version of the article incorrectly stated that the school demanded Amy Donofrio remove a Black Lives Matter flag without specifying that she was given the option to remove it herself or allow someone else to do so. The article also inaccurately said that the school demanded she remove facemasks.

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Jacksonville teacher allowed to keep license after Florida targeted her for flying Black Lives Matter flag - The Tributary