BROOKSVILLE, Fla.—On March 24, a transgender teacher allegedly confessed to having thoughts of wanting to shoot students. As tension mounts in the aftermath of the incident, teachers are condemning parents for spreading “disinformation” and defending the actions of the superintendent.
‘Thank You for Withdrawing’
It was standing room only at the April 25 Hernando County School Board meeting. Armed deputies were posted in several locations. The Epoch Times observed that a significant majority in the 80-person capacity room was school teachers and administrators. Two rows of tables lining two walls were reserved for staff. Three-quarters of the remaining chairs were filled with teachers and administrators, with most wearing rainbow attire, “Stop Moms for Liberty” T-shirts, and an assortment of teacher-related merchandise. Because 27 people filled out paperwork to speak, a motion was made to add time for public comments to avoid exceeding the established allotment of 60 minutes.
Before public comments, Hernando Country School District Superintendent John Stratton read a prepared statement addressing those who came to talk about Fox Chapel. He assured them that, as a father, he understood why they wanted answers. He reiterated his previous statements about the incident and reminded them that he had issued a timeline.
What he didn’t provide during his four-minute speech was an answer to the question that many have been asking for a month now: “Why weren’t parents informed about the incident until it was exposed in a local news report two weeks later?”
Of the 27 speakers, 16 were teachers or school administrators. Many touted their academic credentials. All of them were critical of parents, accusing them of “villainizing and terrorizing” teachers and of spreading “disinformation,” “conspiracy theories,” and “lies” on social media. They described parents as “bullies,” “haters,” “bigots,” and “keyboard warriors.” Concerns expressed by parents were dismissed as “performative attention-seeking displays.” They repeatedly demanded “respect” and to “be treated as professionals,” and as each concluded their comments, applause and cheers erupted from their fellow teachers and administrators who packed the room.
Despite the rule of “appropriate decorum and civility” that reads, “No person may address or question Board members individually,” several teachers were allowed to engage in lengthy verbal assaults against Board Member Shannon Rodriguez, who has been critical of Stratton’s management of the incident.
Only nine of the parents who wanted to express their concerns were able to find seats. Janice Crisp was one of them. She drove approximately 106 miles from Brevard County to share her thoughts. She began with a message for Stratton, who was seeking the superintendent’s position in her county.
“I want to thank you for withdrawing today because the biggest reason I came here was to tell you we didn’t want you,” Crisp said.
Stratton was visibly shocked, and teachers gasped.
The Epoch Times spoke with Crisp after the school board meeting. She was angered by the efforts of several teachers to cover for Stratton. They suggested that his withdrawal from the running in Brevard was due to some loyalty he felt to Hernando.
‘It’s Part of Their Cover-Up’
During discussions about superintendent candidates at the April 18 school board meeting in Brevard County, Board Member Gene Trent voiced opposition to Stratton’s consideration. He cited the incident at Fox Chapel. Trent also confirmed to The Epoch Times that he planned to make a motion to remove Stratton from the running if he didn’t withdraw voluntarily.“That’s when he bailed,” Crisp asserted. “He didn’t want to be embarrassed. I let the cat out of the bag. He was shaking.”
Crisp also noted that teachers and staff packed the room.
“They were saying, ‘Let’s stuff as many staff people in here as we can, and let’s let the teachers talk first,’ and that’s what they did. I saw teachers go in through a side door, and they were already in there before the general public was allowed in, so we walked into a full room. That limited the number of parents who could go in.”
Parents were offered an opportunity to observe the meeting from another room.
“That meant, ‘We don’t even want to see your faces.’ That’s their M.O.,” Crisp said. “‘Let’s wear them down. Let’s make it uncomfortable for them. Let’s stack the deck against them.’”
Crisp said she believes the heavy teacher presence was organized, not organic. She noted that they used similar “buzzwords” in their prepared speeches: “conspiracy theorists,” “keyboard warriors,” “disinformation,” and “lies.”
“They were pushing the narrative that no matter what parents heard or saw, it wasn’t true,” Crisp said.
Crisp was also irritated by the teachers who suggested they were the victims and were in danger from parents.
“They were trying to make the story about us coming after teachers,” Crisp said. “There were no threats to teachers. Nobody was going after their jobs. This isn’t about them.
‘It Was Handled Horribly’
Pastor Jack Martin has been attending HCSB meetings for about five years. He began his comments with a list of his own credentials, which included a degree in psychology, 37 years as a counselor, and 12 years as a member of the Florida ESF 8 Emergency Response Team.
“I’m not going to lie. With all due respect,” Martin said. “I think it was handled horribly.”
It was also his assessment that “parents should have been told right away.”
Martin also shared his thoughts with The Epoch Times. He, too, noted the abundance of teachers in the room. “They think if they talk in numbers and state things that aren’t true often enough that it becomes the truth.”
He said he also thinks Stratton withdrew from the contest in Brevard to save face and his job in Hernando. “Anyone with a clear mind wouldn’t want him,” Martin said.
“It gets tiring after a while that any time you speak against the LGBTQ community, you’re called a hater,” Martin said. “It doesn’t matter how you word what you say. You’re immediately labeled a hater. I’m not a hater. I’m a pastor. I just don’t want to see kids get killed because the school didn’t do what it was supposed to do.”
Michelle Mandarin drove about 40 miles from Pasco. She said she wanted to know what social media posts from parents had to do with reports filed by the HCSO.
“It’s not outrageous for parents to be concerned about the safety of their children,” she told the board. And although teachers tossed out accusations of “hatred and bigotry,” she said she didn’t hear any of them offer any solutions.
After the meeting, Mandarin told The Epoch Times she didn’t understand why the teachers and angry parents were lashing out against “the valid concern” by parents that this teacher “thought about hurting their children.”
“It wouldn’t have been an issue if nothing was said,” she added, noting that the information came from HCSO reports, not “rumors.”
She also said, “Common sense flies out the window when it’s something about LGBTQ.
“It doesn’t matter that students may have been at risk.”
“What this district did—knowingly and willingly working to cover up a serious safety threat at Fox Chapel from March 24—is not only egregious, but when you view it through the lens of the Nashville shooting, it takes this entire thing past just gross negligence an ineptitude and makes this a clear case of what can only be described as reckless child endangerment,” he told the board.
Floyd also spoke with The Epoch Times.
“When we went into the board room, it was three-quarters full. They stacked the room before the public was even allowed in,” Floyd said.
He said that several teachers were harassing and intimidating the small number of parents who managed to find seats.
“These people were hissing and barking at us,” Floyd said, adding that things got so tense that he and several others felt it was necessary to leave.
“It wasn’t safe,” he said. “It was a toxic environment.”
In describing the April 25 meeting, Floyd said, “It was Kabuki theater.
For all of the talking by Stratton and his room full of supporters, the one thing that wasn’t heard was an explanation for the way parents found out about the incident.
“They didn’t want to answer that question because they don’t have an answer,” Floyd said. “It was a three-week cover-up, and now they’ve been exposed. Now they are gaslighting the community and trying to shame any parent who dares to ask questions. The truth is, this teacher was given a pass because he’s transgender. That’s the answer to the question.”
