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The parent said teachers were using a “preferred male nickname."
The Brevard Public Schools opened an investigation of Satellite High teacher Melissa Calhoun based on allegations from a parent that the teacher referred to a child with a different name than the one assigned at birth.
A Florida teacher has lost her job after a parent accused her of grooming a child to “become gay.”
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The Brevard Public Schools opened an investigation of Satellite High teacher Melissa Calhoun based on allegations from a parent that the teacher referred to a child with a different name than the one given at birth. A School Board member reportedly told the principal the parent had called concerned her child was being encouraged to transition in school.
"Both DeLaura Middle School and Satellite High School faculty members have been influencing and grooming her daughter to transition and to be gay,” the report reads, according to the local Fox affiliate WOFL.
The parent said teachers were using a “preferred male nickname." That prompted the principal to confront Calhoun, who told the administrator she did not know the name was an issue and that she did not realize she had violated school policy.
But Florida, which implemented a first-in-the-nation “don’t say gay” law forbids teachers from using preferred pronouns different from a gender assigned at birth, and requires a permission form to be signed for a teacher to use a nickname for a student. While a legal settlement over the law largely stripped provisions forbidding teachers from including sexual orientation or gender identity in instruction, a 2023 Board of Education rule still requires parental consent on alternative names.
Calhoun, an AP English Literature teacher, told the school district she did not know where to find such a slip.
Ultimately, the district said it did not renew Calhoun’s contract for a new year, even as parents and students hold protests supporting her.
"The decision was made by (School District Superintendent) Dr. (Mark) Rendell based on uncertainty surrounding the state's response to the incident. We do not have any historical data to guide us on a FLDOE [Florida Department of Education] response to this violation. We do not want to start the 2025-2026 school year with a teacher whose license may be revoked by the state,” a spokesperson told WOFL.
Students protested the move at School Board meetings.
Ryan Matrigali, a junior at Satellite High School, told board members, "Ms. Calhoun is a dedicated teacher who excels far beyond her peers. She stands for the representation and care and students deserve, and you rip that away from us,” according to Florida Today.
