A Florida teacher accused of turning a student gay has filed charges against her employers for mishandling the subsequent investigation.
Heterosexual Deerfield Beach High School teacher Juliet Hibbs was investigated last year by the Broward School District for misconduct after a student’s parents accused her of contributing to their daughter’s homosexuality.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:
According to the district’s investigative report, the incident began last year while the student was in Hibbs’ class. She was suddenly barraged with incendiary messages from her stepdad on her Twitter feed after he discovered the girl’s orientation.
“As each message came, she got smaller … I watched her get destroyed,” Hibbs said, who reported the incident as child abuse and cyberbullying.
The girl, 18 at the time, never returned home.
The parents told investigators they were upset that Hibbs had not told them about their daughter’s orientation. They accused her of possibly contributing to their daughter being gay and believed Hibbs had told the girl to not come home.
But in the district report, the daughter said an abuse counselor told her she didn’t have to go home because she was of age. Of Hibbs, she said the allegations were far-fetched since a straight woman couldn’t make someone become a lesbian.
Though the district cleared her and no action was taken, Hibbs insists that the incident should have been handled by the school and that the district’s involvement was an attempt on the principal’s part to intimidate her from being outspoken on “other school issues.”
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Hibbs, who s currently on medical leave, claims she’s suffered from several medical problems from the stress of the situation that will likely prevent her from teaching. She has since filed charges with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“My career has been ruined. Before Deerfield, I had an impeccable record,” Hibbs said of her ten year career. But the educator is far from being done and intends to teach the school district a lesson.Hibbs wrote on her Facebook page on November 2:
Ok…so it is official. I will run for school board in 2014. I will be running on the platform of. Hibbs for Change. I am going to begin with YouTube videos exposing the corruption within Broward School. They now have created a life long educational advocate.
Hopefully Hibbs will win and maybe institute a gender studies course or two if grown-ass people seriously think someone can “turn gay.” Everyone knows that it’s more of a twirl.
2eo
Commit child abuse and blame an innocent party.
THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY PEOPLE.
Mooz
I admire her bravery and hope she will get a lot of support from the school’s community who have enough of this kind of bullying. It is time to fight back.
Will any action be taken to those parents and school’s principal?
Hibbs for Change!
ChiChi Man
I LOVE this woman. She could just sue (and she should), but that she’s running for the school board is amazing and means she can be part of the solution.