“I will, however, always be a safe person to come to that spreads the message of kindness, positivity and compassion for everyone,” she added in a six-minute TikTok video.
Jenna Barbee, the daughter of Don Barbee, a judge for the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Hernando, made reference to her own past during her public comments. She mentioned a seven-year-old expunged record related to a fraud charge, acknowledging that she has made mistakes but emphasizing that showing a Disney movie is not one of them.
Barbee stated that each student in her class had a signed parent permission slip, explicitly permitting the viewing of PG-rated movies.
Additionally, Barbee claims that Rodriguez contacted her father to inform him about the complaint filed with the Department of Education (DOE).
“I’m a first-year teacher. I’ve had to learn so much this year,” she told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida. “I work with teachers who have taught for 20 years, 30 years, tell me every day it never used to be like this. Times have changed so much and they are so micromanaged, they’re not allowed to teach anymore. They’re basically a caregiver who has to teach the standards. Teachers stay for the children, but because of the laws and the fear of being let go for saying one wrong thing, they can’t connect to their students.”
At the end of the school board meeting, Rodriguez said Barbee broke school policy because she did not get the specific movie approved by school administration and said the teacher is “playing the victim.”
Rodriguez’s daughter is in Barbee’s class.
“It is not a teacher’s job to impose their beliefs upon a child: religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, any of the above. But allowing movies such as this assist teachers in opening a door, and please hear me, they assist teachers in opening the door for conversations that have no place in our classrooms,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also said she has called DOE about other issues in the district and believes children should not be “a pawn in the crossfire” of liberal political agendas.
“As a leader in this community, I’m not going to stand by and allow this minority to infiltrate our schools,” she said.
Rodriguez has not yet responded to the Democrat’s questions by email as of Friday evening.
