The teacher who was being investigated by Florida’s Department of Education shares her side of the story after she aired a Disney movie in her classroom. The teacher claimed that the film contained topics relevant to the school curriculum, but a school board member complained that the teacher was “indoctrinating the students.”
Barbee released a video on TikTok, where she stated that she was accused of indoctrination by showing 2022’s Strange World in class. She revealed in her video that she showed her students a movie that related to what they were learning at school and that other classes did this as well.
“I chose this movie because it relates to our curriculum. Our unit at the time was Earth Science and ecosystems and how they interact. Plants, humans, animals, this movie was perfect. My thought process was ‘what a better way to showcase all these standards, along with huge lessons of overcoming differences, spreading kindness, communication, and chasing your dreams? A lot of which were in our social, emotional Florida best standards as well.”
According to the teacher, in order to show rated PG+ movies to their students, a signed parent permission slip must be submitted. Barbee claimed that all the permission slips were signed with “no objections” whatsoever by the parents about movies or content that should be aired, except for one which was the 2022 film, Lightyear.
Barbee then revealed that one of the students was the child of a school board member who was “on a rampage” to get rid of content that showed any form of representation, which is what led to her being investigated by the state’s Department of Education.
Variety reported that the school district released a letter to the parents, which stated that Strange World will no longer be played in classrooms anymore. It also stated that the school administration and the district’s professional standards department are now reviewing the incident.
“Yesterday, the Disney movie Strange World was shown in your child’s classroom. While not the main plot of the movie, parts of the story involves a male character having and expressing feelings for another male character. In the future, this movie will not be shown. The school administration and the district’s Professional Standards Dept. is currently reviewing the matter to see if further corrective action is required.”
The teacher made it clear that she didn’t air the movie because it featured an openly gay character. She also revealed that before showing this film, students have already revealed that they were part of the LGBTQ+ community. She also stated that nobody batted an eye about the movie until the school board got involved. Now, investigators from the state’s Department of Education are interrogating the students individually, without the need for parental consent.
Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill restricts schools from discussing gender and sexual orientation from kindergarten to the third grade. This has led to the banning of certain children’s books and other forms of content that might “open doors” for conversation about the topic. The bill also gives power to the parents to sue the school district if a teacher discusses or mentions anything that hints towards the existence of LGBTQ+ people. Critics have argued that this bill restricts free speech and that it’s heavily targeting the LGBTQ+ community.