Citing parental rights, Brevard's school board won't renew contract of Satellite High teacher

Yahoo

06-05-2025

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to clarify a comment made by a speaker who thanked the board for honoring parental rights.
Brevard Public Schools' newest board member made a plea to the rest of the board during the April 22 meeting: Allow a Satellite High School teacher to undergo training regarding the use of students' chosen names and then reconsider renewing her contract.
"This is not about overriding the superintendent," said John Thomas, who was elected to the District 3 seat formerly held by Jennifer Jenkins during the August 2024 primaries. "This is not about issuing a directive. This is about engaging the kind of thoughtful, principled leadership our community expects and our educators deserve."
Thomas' call for the retraining of Melissa Calhoun, a Satellite High AP English teacher whose contract was not renewed after she used the chosen name of a 17-year-old student without parental permission, came amid a growing public outcry that erupted at the Tuesday night school board meeting. A Change.org petition, launched on April 8, to reinstate Calhoun has garnered nearly 55,000 signatures, and multiple rallies have been held around the county in support of Calhoun.
Supporters gathered outside the Brevard Public Schools district office for a rally ahead of the meeting, then packed the board room and spoke multiple times in favor of keeping the teacher, with only one person commenting negatively on her in a meeting that stretched five hours.
Board member John Thomas suggested the superintendent consider retraining Melissa Calhoun. The board voted 4 to 1 to uphold Melissa Calhoun's non-renewal. The April 22nd Brevard County school board meeting had the board walking out twice, the audience yelling out and people frustrated trying to talk during an agenda item.
Calhoun is the first known Florida educator to suffer job loss as the result of a 2023 law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that mandates that parents must sign a form if their child wishes to go by any alternative to their legal name, whether that be a nickname or a chosen name related to the child's gender identity. In this case, school and community members said the student in question went by another name related to their gender identity and had been doing so for years.
The law does not say what the consequences are if a teacher fails to get parental consent before calling a student by another name. Brevard Schools chose not to renew the teacher's contract, noting she'd be under investigation by the state for violating the rule.
"This is not a case with a pending criminal charge," Thomas said. "This is not a case of moral corruption. And no student was harmed, no child was put at risk. This is the case of poor judgment, a mistake, and like all of us, even good teachers are capable of making them."
Ultimately, the four other members of Brevard's school board shot down Thomas' motion, citing parental rights.
"You mentioned it didn't do any harm to the student," School Board Chair Gene Trent said. "I think I would talk to the parent about that first."
Meeting marked by chaos
The April 22 board meeting was chaotic, with commenters repeatedly getting cut off during the portion of public comment dedicated to agenda-related topics as Trent and Board Attorney Paul Gibbs accused them of straying to unrelated topics. Commenters argued that their concerns about Calhoun were related to the agenda, specifically policies on student and parent rights and the renewal of teacher contracts.
The board called multiple recesses and left the board room, at which point the audience strategized how they were going to proceed. Throughout the meeting, audience members booed and jeered at the board. Several members were removed from the room.
Zander Moricz, a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging Florida's House Bill 1557, which critics call the "Don't Say Gay" bill, and founder of Social Equity through Education Alliance, stood at the front of the room and told audience members to shoot selfie-style videos.
"Your First Amendment rights are being violated," he said. "We need to humanize that. It's not happening to a crowd. It's happening to you and you and you and you and you."
Protesters in support of Melissa Calhoun, an AP English teacher at Satellite High School, rallied outside before the April 22 school board meeting in Viera. Calhoun's contact was not renewed for the 2025-26 school year.
Board: 'Parental rights exist for a reason'
Thomas' plea came about halfway through the meeting after hearing from the first round of public commenters.
"There is no doubt her judgment failed when she chose to violate the (Florida Department of Education) rule," he said, adding that the decision to remove her was within the district's right. But it wasn't, he said, a punishment that fit the crime.
He made a motion that Calhoun be retrained, that the training be documented and submitted to FLDOE and that the district review Calhoun's contract.
Trent, Board Vice Chair Matt Susin and board members Megan Wright and Katye Campbell voted against the motion.
"If my daughters were going through a major crisis, an identity crisis of who they were, and the person they're spending six hours a day with are not telling me that they're seeing something that's changing, specifically in my child, I've got a problem," Wright said, adding that the board should be more focused on the concerns of the student's parent than their own feelings.
"At the end of the day, parents are the ones that get to direct what happens," she said. "Parental rights exist for a reason. They exist because of things that have happened around our state that are horrific and have caused major damage to families."
Trent commended Superintendent Mark Rendell for not renewing Calhoun's contract, saying it was important to "(do) what's right, even when it's not popular."
He added that he didn't want to retrain Calhoun. "I'm sure she wholeheartedly believes in what she did, and she deserves the right to do that," he said.
Thomas clarified that he meant she should be retrained on the law, but Trent maintained his position.
Campbell said Calhoun could always reapply for a job after the state education department reviewed her teaching credentials.
"There is no reason why, depending on their decision, Ms. Calhoun wouldn't necessarily go back and apply for a job in Brevard, and those doors are open," she said.
'What Ms. Calhoun did was life support'
People continued to speak in support of Calhoun, even after the board shot down the possibility of reinstating her. They also expressed compassion toward transgender students.
Beau Culpepper, a veteran, former high school teacher and Republican, praised Calhoun for supporting her students.
"We had a teacher that simply showed kindness and compassion for a student and removed a barrier to learning," he said, adding that not renewing her contract "sends the wrong message" to students.
"If you disagree with what I'm saying, go home tonight and read the Sermon on the Mount ... and if that doesn't satisfy you, go read the Constitution, because that covers it, too."
Erika Orriss, a licensed mental health counselor, was the only person to thank the board for honoring parental rights, saying Calhoun's actions weren't about a nickname, but rather gender affirmation and gender dysphoria.
'The parents need to be able to parent their children, not the schools,' said Orriss, who recently unsuccessfully ran for House representative District 33.
She told FLORIDA TODAY that "75% of children who think they are transgender will outgrow it, if left to their own understanding and not affirmed by a teacher" without parental knowledge, citing a Dutch study from 2024.
Jen Cousins, the chair of Florida's GLSEN chapter, discussed the rates of discrimination faced by transgender students in Florida's schools and commended Calhoun for her actions.
"What Ms. Calhoun did was life support for this student," she said.
A student who said they have a "connection with gender dysphoria" spoke on the research about transgender people, saying that the best way to help keep transgender students alive and thriving is to affirm them.
"Gender affirming care starts with pronouns and a name," they said. "That, while it seems small, creates an immeasurable difference in the mental health of a transgender child. … To do a one- or two-day turnaround for a form might seem irrelevant, but to someone who doesn't feel comfortable in their own skin, that is torture."
Michelle Spitzer contributed to this report.
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at [e-mail]. X: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard school board won't retain Satellite High teacher over name issue