Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier
He has asked the school district to provide an update by October 1.
He said the allegations, if established, could amount to violations of Florida law, school board policy and professional standards for educators. “Every student deserves a classroom where they feel safe, respected, and free to learn,” Connor said in a statement. “No student should face harassment, humiliation, or retaliation because of their beliefs or their family’s views.”
Uthmeier has called for Ballard’s dismissal and the revocation of her teaching certificate if the claims are substantiated.
A Florida school district is reviewing allegations involving a history teacher accused of repeatedly singling out an eighth-grade student over his conservative views and calling him a “misogynist”. The student had told Ballard that his parents did not want him taking part in political discussions at school, according to Uthmeier. The attorney general alleges that she nevertheless continued to use him as the “conservative perspective” during classroom debates and pressured him to defend political positions in front of other students. Uthmeier further alleged that Ballard called the student a “misogynist”, circulated the description around the school and questioned his father’s influence.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier raised the allegations in a letter sent to Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor and the school board. The teacher, Liz Ballard, works at Pine View School in Osprey. “Ms. Ballard singled out this student and, in defiance of his parents’ express instructions, pressured him to defend political positions on demand in front of his classmates,” Uthmeier wrote in the letter.