VIERA, Fla. — A teacher from Brevard County who made headlines last school year is speaking out for the first time.
Melissa Calhoun was dismissed from her job for calling a student by their preferred name without the parents’ consent.
“It’s been a whirlwind, but I’ve really tried to focus on, you know, the highs,” said Calhoun, who used to teach at Satellite High School.
On July 30, she appeared before the state’s Education Practices Commission. The panel decided Calhoun could keep her teaching certification.
Channel 9 caught up with the teacher after she found out she won’t be hired back by Brevard Public Schools, at least not for the next year.
BPS superintendent, Dr. Mark Rendell, announced the decision in a statement, saying in part, “I believe it is appropriate that the full term of that probation be completed before any consideration of employment.”
It all started when Calhoun addressed one of her students by their preferred name, something that, according to a new Florida law, requires parental consent.
“Did you ever fear you wouldn’t be able to teach again?” Channel 9’s Geovany Dias asked Calhoun. “Of course, yes,” she replied. “This is something that is serious, and I never want to get in the way of a parent and their child. It’s always my goal to work in coordination with my parents.”
Her dismissal caused community commotion, with parents and students speaking out repeatedly in hopes of helping the teacher keep her job. “It was heartening to see. I had many former and current parents reach out to me, and former students reach out to me, and just offer their support, and that mattered greatly,” Calhoun said.
Over the course of the months of back-and-forth with the school district, and later with the Department of Education, Calhoun said she still wanted to make sure her students continued to succeed in their academic journey.
“Ultimately, I knew that I had to serve my students. So, they had that AP test coming up, and you know, there’s college credit attached to that. I wanted to ensure they were successful,” she said.
“I had 10th Grade tests coming up as well, and that’s a graduation requirement. Despite my fears, I wanted to ensure that I was serving my students.”
Calhoun will be on a one-year probationary period with the district. Additionally, she will have to pay a $750 fee to the Department of Education and take a college-level ethics class.
Dias asked, “If you could send a message to your students, what would you say?”
“I really want them to just understand the value of their education and to hopefully impart some life lesson of resiliency to them and to also let them know that I’m so deeply proud of them,” Calhoun tearfully replied. “My hope is to be back in a classroom, to be educating students. That’s my calling.”
Calhoun, who has been a teacher for more than 10 years, is also a former Satellite High School student. Her one-year probation clock under the district will start ticking once she begins her next teaching job.
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