6 May 25-31, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | AND DONALD DUCK WEARS NO PANTS! Florida parent who reported classroom Disney movie believes God put her on school board. BY ALEX DELUCA T here wasn’t much of a furor in Hernando County over a scene featuring two heterosex- ual parents kissing passionately in Strange World, a Disney movie shown to fifth-grade students at a Brooksville school this month. Yet brief references to a character’s gay crush apparently inflamed parent and Her- nando County School Board member Shan- non Rodriguez to the point where she felt she had to take swift action against the teacher who showed the film. Believing she had a re- ligious duty to shield students from such con- tent, she notified the school of the gay character’s presence in the movie and met with the instructor to voice her frustration. The teacher, Jenna Barbee, says Rodriguez also reported her to the Florida Department of Education and that she is now under inves- tigation by the state. After Barbee spoke out about the contro- versy at a May 9 school board meeting, Rodri- guez, sitting atop the dais, said the PG-rated movie marred her child. “You showed a movie that wasn’t sanc- tioned school material, thus stripping the in- nocence of my 10-year-old,” Rodriguez said, addressing the teacher directly. Rodriguez went on to say, “I am here to stay.” “And yes, you can laugh, but God did put me here. So God has good things, and he has big things coming.” Barbee showed Strange World to students, including Rodriguez’s 10-year-old, in Her- nando County’s Winding Waters K-8 school in early May following a morning of end-of- year standardized exams. While Barbee says students had signed permission slips to watch PG-rated movies, Rodriguez claims the teacher failed to ensure the movie was expressly approved as classroom material. The movie depicts a group of explorers on the hunt for a rare plant that provides energy for their society. One of its characters, a 16-year-old, is gay, which becomes evident when his dad references the teenager’s crush. Barbee says the film touches on ecology and environmental stewardship, themes that she felt fit into her lesson plan. She insists the character’s sexual orientation had nothing to do with her decision to show the movie. “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, and animals. So this movie was perfect,” Barbee said in a TikTok video. “Is a character in the movie LGBTQ? Absolutely. Is that why I showed it? No.” But thanks to the Florida Board of Educa- tion’s “Don’t Say Gay” rules, Rodriguez made headway when she reported Barbee for “indoctrination,” prompting the Florida Department of Education to launch an in- vestigation into the teacher for potential vio- lation of the policy banning the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation, Bar- bee says. Barbee, a first-year teacher, is in danger of suspension or losing her job altogether, she says. “The word indoctrination is thrown around a lot right now, but it seems that those who are using it are using it as a de- fense tactic for their own fear-based beliefs without understanding the true meaning of the word,” Barbee argued at the recent school board meeting. Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, the Parental Rights in Education Act (AKA Don’t Say Gay bill) prohibits instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms until fourth grade. In April, the Board of Education implemented rules that apply similar restrictions through the end of high school. The law and accompanying rules have caused rampant confusion among educators across the state as they struggle to under- stand the boundaries of the regulations. It’s devolved to the point where teachers are concerned that they’ll be punished for teach- ing about historical developments in civil rights, such as the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling establishing the right of same- sex couples to marry. Rodriguez discussed her disdain for Strange World during the May 9 meeting. “While you may feel a PG movie is not a matter of utmost importance, know that this is only one example of your children being exposed to controversial issues that have no place in schools,” Rodriguez continued. “God bless each and every one of you,” she said to close the meeting. Rodriguez’s run for a Hernando School Board seat was endorsed by the right-wing group Moms for Liberty, which campaigns to elect conserva- tive school board members and advocates for schools’ re- moval of books that the group finds objec- tionable. She secured her seat in a victory over in- cumbent board member Jimmy Lodato in August 2022, winning 60 percent of the vote. A nursing school graduate, she has lived in Hernando County for more than 36 years and runs an auto repair shop with her husband. In an interview with the Hernando Sun prior to her election, Rodriguez said that one of the biggest issues plaguing the school dis- trict was a “curriculum centered around po- litical ideology versus teaching skills essential for the workforce and life in general.” She la- mented that children “are graduating without the ability to endorse a paycheck in cursive” and “read the Declaration of Independence as it was intended to be read.” Rodriguez has emerged as conservative parents’ most vocal voice on the board in re- cent weeks as the school district has been embroiled in controversy over alleged com- ments made by a trans teacher to administra- tors at Fox Chapel Middle School in March after she saw students making disparaging re- marks online about her sexual orientation. Parents became incensed that the teacher, who is accused of making a reference to shooting students, was not immediately re- moved from campus. The Disney movie controversy was over- shadowed for a few days by the fallout from the Fox Chapel uproar as superintendent John Stratton faced calls to resign over the latter incident. A motion for a vote of no con- fidence against Stratton was backed by Rodri- guez and a fellow board member, though the measure was tabled at the May 9 meeting. After Barbee posted her social media video this past weekend about the disciplin- ary action she’s facing, the story was covered in the Tallahassee Democrat before making national headlines. Strange World featured Disney’s first openly gay teen character, voiced by come- dian Jaboukie Young-White. The film was released in November 2022, starring charac- ters voiced by actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Den- nis Quaid, and Lucy Liu. Even before it hit theaters, it was drawing backlash from prominent religious conservative figures In the Disney animated movie Strange World, the character of Ethan Clade, voiced by Jaboukie Young-White, is openly gay. Photo courtesy ©Disney | METRO | “THIS IS ONLY ONE EXAMPLE OF YOUR CHILDREN BEING EXPOSED TO CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES.”
Miami 05-25-23
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