Hundreds gather at Florida school board meeting over Disney movie controversy

Source: USA Today

Hundreds gather at Florida school board meeting over Disney movie controversy: 'Your policies are not protecting us from anything'

Thao Nguyen
USA TODAY
Published 10:47 p.m. ET May 30, 2023 | Updated 6:31 a.m. May 31, 2023

Florida teachers and community members packed a Hernando County School Board meeting Tuesday amid national furor over an investigation into a fifth-grade teacher who showed a Disney movie in her classroom.

Jenna Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters K-8, alleged earlier this month that Hernando County School Board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her to the Florida Department of Education for showing her students the 2022 movie "Strange World" – one of the first Disney films to have an openly LGBTQ+ character in a central role.

The school board and state department of education both opened an investigation into Barbee, who has argued that the Disney movie related to a class Earth science lesson and did not show sexually inappropriate content. The animated movie follows a family of explorers on an adventure to save a plant that is their society’s source of energy.

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Over 100 people registered to speak during public comment and many shared their concerns over the school district's high numbers of teacher vacancies, with one high school student saying teachers are "scared to say anything that will get them fired."

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Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/05/30/disney-movie-controversy-florida/70271146007/