The battle between Disney and the state of Florida which has now resulted in the state being sued over its changes to Walt Disney World, was started after the entertainment company voiced opposition to a state law impacting education. Now it appears an educator may be in hot water with the state following the showing of a Disney movie in the classroom.
A tweet posted last week by user Carl Zee showed a letter, with identifying details redacted, from the Florida Department of Education informing a teacher that an investigation would begin against them following a report of alleged misconduct. A complaint was apparently filed against the teacher, and while the letter does not include specifics, the accompanying tweet claims that the event that led to the letter was that the teacher in question showed the movie Strange World to the class.
While not specified, the reason the parents may have complained following their child seeing the movie appears to be related to the fact that Strange World has a prominent gay character, which is not the case in most other Disney animated movies. Assuming this is the reason, there likely is a direct connection between the complaint and the bill that Disney had initially spoken out against. The teacher reportedly had permission slips from the class regarding showing Disney movies and parents were given an opportunity to specify any films they did not want their child to see.
The initial Parental Rights in Education bill, referred to by detractors as “Don’t Say Gay,” limited what teachers could say or do when discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. The bill initially targeted grades K-3 but the Florida Department of Education has since expanded it to cover all grades. It’s unclear what grade of students we’re talking about in this case.
Disney, as the largest single-site employer in the state, was encouraged by its fans and Cast Members to speak out against the bill, which Disney eventually did. Following that, Florida has targeted the company with a series of new bills meant to punish the company for speaking out. The Reedy Creek Improvement District which oversaw Walt Disney World has been replaced with a new district that is under the governor’s control. More recently a new Florida transportation bill brought the Monorail under state review. Disney is now suing the governor and other state officials for retaliation, arguing all it ever did was exercise its First Amendment rights.
While the teacher in question has not spoken publicly yet, it sounds like she is giving interviews that will be published soon, so we’ll be getting some more specific details regarding exactly what is being claimed happened here. While this case is only tangentially related to Disney, as this issue is becoming very public following the viral tweet, we could very well see it become another element in the bigger fight.
