A Florida teacher reprimanded for displaying a Black Lives Matter flag in her classroom has been awarded $300,000.
Educator Amy Donofrio was singled out by the administration at Riverside High School when she displayed the BLM flag in the doorway of her classroom. Once she refused to remove the banner, Donofrio was removed from her teaching position and reassigned to a warehouse job. Her counsel, The Southern Poverty Law Center, claims that Donofrio was retaliated against for supporting the BLM movement.
Donofrio sued the Duval Public School District in the United States District Court’s Middle District of Florida, claiming they violated her First Amendment rights. Instead of carrying on a lengthy court case that could take years and millions of dollars to fight, the school district settled with the former teacher this month. As part of the agreement, Donofrio withdrew her discrimination claims with the Office of the Inspector General and dropped her civil action against the district. In addition, she canceled all public records requests she made concerning her case. The most damning term of the settlement is the fact that Donofrio cannot seek re-employment with Duval Schools, which she said devasted her “beyond what I can fully articulate.”
The school board agreed to fork over $300,000, with $240,000 going directly to Donofrio while the remaining $60,000 would be paid to her attorneys.
“Though we know we haven’t done anything wrong, these are taxpayer dollars,” board member Warren Jones said about the settlement.
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