The community rallied for the teacher who lost her job for not following a rule she didn't know existed.
An investigation by a Florida school into charges that a teacher “groomed” a student “to transition and to be gay” resulted in the school district ending her contract, despite a recommendation to only reprimand her.
AP English teacher Melissa Calhoun is the first known Florida educator to lose her job as a result of a 2023 Florida Board of Education rule stating parents must provide written permission before an educator can use any alternative to a student’s legal name.
The rule is part of a wave of “Don’t Say Gay” legislation and policy enacted in Florida over the last several years.
The report was made public through a Freedom of Information Act request by the news outlet Florida Today.
In March, Brevard County school board member Matt Viser was contacted by a parent who accused faculty at Satellite High School of “influencing and grooming” her daughter to “transition and be gay,” according to the report.
An investigation was launched by school officials, who questioned multiple teachers and other staff. Calhoun was the only teacher who admitted to using the teen’s chosen name. She had taught the student since 2022, before the rule was enacted.
Calhoun immediately expressed willingness to abide by the nickname prohibition and told the student, a 17-year-old senior dual-enrolled at Eastern Florida State College, that she could no longer use it.
In subsequent meetings with the lead investigator for Brevard Public Schools, Calhoun said the student did well in class and didn’t suffer any behavioral issues, so she didn’t have occasion to speak with the parents. She hadn’t checked to see if the student had a completed parent permission form, calling it a “complete oversight,” according to the report.
Calhoun said she wasn’t using the student’s chosen name with any “political intent” and said she was “shocked” when she learned she was in violation of school policy.
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