A teacher fired from Duval County Public Schools in Florida was not merely displaying a Black Lives Matter flag in her classroom, according to recently released documents from the school district.
She was in fact awarding extra academic credit – allowing students to advance in school – based on their participation in extracurricular political activities and their allegiance to her own political beliefs.
News4Jax obtained the 248-page report through a public records request, and it lists the ways in which Amy Donofrio was abusing her position and using it for her own political purposes. Donofrio was reassigned and eventually dismissed. She sued, however, and shares a rich payoff with the leftist law firm who helped her soak Florida taxpayers.
Initially, Donofrio’s removal from the classroom was seen as a disciplinary action related solely to her refusal to remove the BLM flag from her classroom doorway. Documents reveal other, far more serious allegations against Donofrio, however, including two related to the flag. Six of the seven allegations were found to be “substantiated”:
- Donofrio used her authority as a teacher at Lee High School to “advocate a position” with students to support renaming the school, and gave students face masks printed with the phrase “Robert E. Lee was a gang member.”
- Donofrio engaged in inappropriate communication when she told students she would give them extra credit for taking part in activities not based on the curriculum.
- Donofrio changed a student’s grades from an “F” to a “B” after they participated in non-curriculum-based activities.
- Donofrio showed poor judgment when she gave unauthorized visitors access to the school.
- Donofrio hung a Black Lives Matter flag outside her classroom.
- Donofrio repeatedly refused to comply with directives from her supervisors to remove the flag.
One of the district’s claims — that Donofrio engaged in poor judgment through involvement in the planning and execution of a student protest of her reassignment — was ruled unsubstantiated.
The investigative report from DCPS includes interviews with staff, administrators and students in which Donofrio, on multiple occasions, is portrayed offering students class credit for taking yearbook photos while wearing EVAC Movement merchandise bearing the phrase “I Am Not A Gang Member.”
