A Change.org petition calling for school board member, Shannon Rodriguez, to be removed has been signed more than 18,000 times. The petition was launched in response to Ms Rodriguez's decision to investigate a teacher after she showed her fifth-grade class a Disney film.
Teacher, Jenna Barbee - who is in her first year of teaching - was slammed by Ms Rodriguez for putting on a PG rated Disney movie, Strange World, in front of her class at Hernando County School, Florida. The film includes a gay character, which could have been in breach of Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' law - which came into effect July 1, 2022.
Taking to her TikTok account at the time, Ms Barbee said the reason why she showed her pupils the film is because it fitted in with the class curriculum, as they were being taught eco-systems and earth-related science. She went on to explain that the film's "harmless" LGBTQ+ subplot wasn't why she put the film on.
However, one student in her class complained about the film to their mum, Ms Rodriguez, due to reportedly feeling 'uncomfortable' while watching the movie. Shortly after, an investigation begun into Ms Barbee - which ended this week.
In the final report of the case, a statement reads: "The investigation was completed regarding the parent complaint. You had the PG [rated movies] approval forms for all of the students and had connected the movie to the curriculum being taught."
The report did stress however that Ms Barbee hadn't obtained permission from the school to put the film on in her classroom, as stated in the school's staff handbook. "You are reminded... that you must seek and receive administrative approval before showing a film or video," the report added.
The petition against Ms Rodriguez - titled 'Remove Shannon Rodriguez: Hernando County School Board Member' - has now racked up 18,711 signatures, at the time of writing.
The petition's creator, Shelby Waymire, said: "Most recently, at the Hernando County School Board meeting on May 5th, 2023, she inappropriately berated a public school teacher for showing a movie that featured, for a mere 2 minutes, a gay couple.
"The teacher was pulled aside by administration and explained where she went wrong and how to avoid this mistake in the future, as she is a first year teacher. However, this did not stop Mrs. Shannon Rodriguez from publicly berating this teacher for a full 3 minutes during closing comments."
