The Duval County College Board will pay a previous significant college teacher who displayed a Black Life Issue flag about her classroom door $300,000 to settle a lawsuit from earlier this yr.
Amy Donofrio, a previous Riverside High Faculty (then Lee Significant) instructor, said she was unfairly eradicated from her teaching situation in March. She designed countrywide news, indicating administrators instructed her to get down the Black Lives Matter flag that experienced been hanging over her doorway. After she refused, the district quickly reassigned her to warehouse functions and reported she was being investigated for “quite a few matters.”
Teaching is “my lifetime, my coronary heart”:Duval County instructor Amy Donofrio terminated, settles lawsuit with school district
Totally free speech lawsuit:SPLC sues Duval Schools on behalf of trainer taken out for refusing to acquire down Black Life Subject flag
A lot more:EVAC Movement leader Amy Donofrio taken out from classroom for ‘several matters’
The Southern Poverty Regulation Center — who represented Donofrio — stated the reassignment was an energy on the faculty district’s behalf to “retaliate” from the trainer and also violated her correct to free speech.
This month, the Duval University Board voted to reach a settlement with Donofrio that would stop the scenario from a decades-very long court system that could likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“While we know we haven’t performed anything erroneous, these are taxpayer dollars,” board member Warren Jones stated at the time.
Independently, Donofrio’s training contract was not renewed with Duval Faculties.
Data demonstrate that the college board agreed to pay back a $300,000 settlement with $240,000 heading to Donofrio and the remaining $60,000 to her attorneys.
As part of the arrangement, Donofrio cannot utilize for reemployment within Duval Universities. According to the doc, the university board had not concluded its disciplinary investigation into Donofrio. Now that the circumstance has been settled, the investigation will not be concluded. The Occasions-Union has requested original findings from the investigation.
Donofrio mentioned she is “devastated” to not be ready to return to the classroom. She’s been teaching for in excess of a decade and was perfectly recognized for her operate with the EVAC Motion — a group she co-launched that works principally with at-threat college students.
Emily Bloch is an education reporter for The Florida Moments-Union. Abide by her on Twitter or e-mail her.