Board meeting: Advocates speak up for Satellite High teacher who used student's chosen name

Yahoo

11-05-2025

A protest in the rain, a person escorted from the room and, to kick off public comments, a warning from the board chair that disruptions could lead to trespasses being issued.
All of that transpired just before and in the first half of a nearly four-hour May 6 Brevarard school board meeting. And just as at the April 22 meeting, the evening was filled with public comment about the fate of a teacher whose contract was not renewed.
More than 28 members of the public, young and old and of different political allegiance, signed up to voice their thoughts on Melissa Calhoun, whose tenure with Brevard Public Schools will end this month. The Satellite High AP English Literature teacher's departure comes after the district opted not to renew her contract because she used the chosen name of a 17-year-old dual-enrolled student in her class without parental permission — an action in violation of a 2023 Florida Board of Education rule.
She is the first known educator in the state to suffer job loss in relation to the rule.
Nearly every commenter urged the board and Superintendent Mark Rendell to reconsider their decision, speaking to her merits as an educator and as a compassionate person.
Loren Kingsley, a teacher of 23 years at Brevard Public Schools, spoke of how Satellite High was "the happiest place on Earth" before the district opted not to renew Calhoun. But everything changed this spring, she said.
"I'm here today because I'm grieving," she said. "With one rash decision, you've stolen a highly effective teacher's livelihood, (and) you've destroyed our entire school's culture."
Over the course of the night, fewer people were complimentary toward the board's decision not to renew Calhoun.
Karen Fulton, chair of the Brevard chapter of Moms for Liberty, thanked board members and Rendell for their choice.
"I think teachers should stay in their lane," she said. "I think teachers should teach. It might not be popular, but that's what I think."
Unlike the previous meeting, when board member John Thomas made a motion to retrain Calhoun and renew her contract — a move shot down by every other board member — the board made no comment about Calhoun, though Board Chair Gene Trent repeatedly interrupted speakers during the agenda-related portion of public comment to ask how their comments related to the agenda. Ahead of that, he cautioned the audience not to be disruptive.
"A warning to those in attendance: If you cause a disruption, you will be asked to leave the premise," Trent said. "If you continue to cause disruption and/or fail to leave the premise, you are in violation of Florida state statute 877-13 and you will be committing trespass, and the board will enforce these rules."
During the agenda-related public comment section, one speaker was escorted from the room after Trent interrupted the man's comment, saying the speaker wasn't addressing an agenda item. The speaker continued to talk and was removed from the meeting.
About 25 protesters in support of Calhoun gathered ahead of the meeting. They first congregated under the building's portico, but were told by Brevard County Sheriff's deputies that they needed to stand outside despite the ongoing rain and lightning.
Inside, additional supporters joined them to address the board.
Nearly everyone spoke about Calhoun, though the focus of the comments ranged from supportive classroom environments to how using a student's preferred name can affect them.
Ellen Tetlow brought up how she is known by multiple names and the impact that respecting someone's chosen name can have on them.
Becky McAleenan also spoke of her personal experience with using a chosen name.
"Allowing a teacher to call someone by the name they choose gives them confidence in their ability to discipline themselves," she said. "I didn't ever feel big enough to wear the name Rebecca, but I damn sure rock Becky."
For Fulton, the issue wasn't so simple.
"I think that in education, there is a team of people that affect the child, and I think when a teacher goes against the parents' wishes, then it drives a wedge in that team, and that is not good for anybody," the Moms for Liberty chapter chair said. "It's not good for the teacher, it's not good for the parents, it's not good for the student."
But for several students who spoke at the May 6 meeting, it wasn't complicated — Calhoun was respecting the student and providing a safe environment.
One student, Davin, said teachers like Calhoun make him feel safe.
"I don't think you'll listen to me," he told the board. "I'm just a student, but I do know this: If someone asks me if I ever saw courage in action, I'm going to say yes. I saw it in my stepdad, I saw it in Ms. Calhoun and I see it every day in teachers who still care, even when you make it this hard."
Multiple speakers criticized the district's decision to not renew Calhoun, raising questions about whether or not that punishment was too harsh and if the district was interpreting statute correctly. Neither the 2023 Florida Board of Education rule that requires parental permission for a student to go by any alternative to their legal name nor House Bill 1069, the law the rule is implementing, lay out a punishment for teachers who use a student's chosen name without parental permission.
"(HB 1069) states that the school board is required to adopt procedures for notifying a student's parent if there is a change in the student's services," said Pamela Castellana, whose family member attends class with Calhoun's student who goes by a chosen name. "Using the same name the student had used for five years is literally the opposite of a change."
Commenters also brought up that HB 1069 says educators can't be required to "refer to another person using that person's preferred personal title or pronouns if such personal title or pronouns do not correspond to that person's sex."
"If a teacher can deny a name based on any grounds, regardless of parental consent, that tells us it's not about parental rights," said Travis Furst, a veteran, father of four BPS students, husband of a teacher and self-described Republican. "It's about enforcing one belief over another."
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at [e-mail]. X: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Community continues to urge Brevard Schools to renew Sat High teacher