Florida Teacher Says She'll Break the Law to Keep Secrets About Sexuality From Parents

The angry teachers of TikTok are rolling in after Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law (also known as “Don’t Say Gay,” because politics demands that every bill signed by a Republican must be demonized). The word “gay” is not in the bill. The bill actually protects children in kindergarten through third grade from being assaulted with discussion of sex and gender issues that they are not ready to handle. For some reason, people on the left are having meltdowns because they can’t talk about their personal sex lives with little children and, in a bizarre trend, they’re making videos about it — like this guy who thinks he can no longer talk about paddleboarding with his kindergartners.

The Florida bill does NOT ban teachers from talking about paddleboarding with their partners. But also, why are you talking about your "love life" instead of teaching reading? What's wrong with these people? https://t.co/oAqc2lzoh1

— Adult Human Female Megan Fox 🦊 (@MeganFoxWriter) March 29, 2022

Libs of Tik Tok on Twitter is at the forefront of exposing all the teachers who are carrying on like stuck pigs because they can’t indoctrinate children anymore (at least in Florida). Not only did the bill outlaw discussions of sex and gender with students from kindergarten to third grade, but it also outlawed hiding information from K-12 parents about their children’s gender identity or any other information that would be important for them to know. There is a disturbing trend of public schools actively keeping secrets from parents, which has led to suicide attempts and harm to children. In Florida, that’s no longer allowed.

But at least one teacher, Amber Mercier who works at The Academy, says she’ll keep lying to parents about their kids, and she’s willing to lose her job over it.

Mercier is gay, and she believes keeping secrets about sexuality from her students’ families — if the student wants her to — is worth losing her job over. “I just want to go ahead and state that I would rather lose my job than out one of my students to their families. Being a safe person and a safe place for kids who don’t have that at home is one of the best parts of being a teacher, so, yeah, I’m not doing it. Fire me, sue me, take me to jail — I’m not doing it.”

Mercier could get her wish. Under the new law, teachers can be sued for violating the new statute.

[Correction to the title of the tweet below: Mercier seems to have been an elementary teacher at one time but is now a middle school and high school teacher]

Florida elementary teacher says she will still hold back information from students’ parents about them coming out pic.twitter.com/DuJUDN5ux3

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 29, 2022

Mercier’s statement that she will break the law of Florida to keep secrets from Florida parents is a problem. The law states that it is illegal to “[prohibit] a parent from accessing certain records” and also sets statute “prohibiting a school district from adopting procedures or student support forms that require school district personnel to withhold from a parent specified information or that encourage or have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold from a parent such information” and “prohibiting school district personnel from discouraging or prohibiting parental notification and involvement in critical decisions affecting a student’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being.”

PJ Media reached out to Governor DeSantis’s office to verify that the new law applies to Mercier and was told by Press Secretary Christina Pushaw that the law applies to K-12 when it comes to secret-keeping.

“That provision of the law applies to all students in grades K-12 in Florida public schools,” she said. “The new law, effective July 1, requires school districts to adopt procedures for notifying parents if there is a change in services from the school regarding a child’s mental, emotional or physical health or well-being.”

Pushaw continued, “as Gov. DeSantis said: ‘Parents’ rights have been increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida, we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children. Parents have every right to be informed about services offered to their child at school, and should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize their kids as young as 5 years old.'”

PJ Media reached out to the Charlotte County Public Schools for comment. Media Coordinator Mike Riley responded, “Our Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent of HR, and the Principal at the Academy have begun an investigation as to what happened today concerning the post by the teacher. We always are and always will be in compliance with laws, policies, and procedures put in place by the Governor, the Legislature, the Commissioner of Education, and the State School Board [and] that will never change.” He added, “This investigation will be a priority on tomorrow’s list of things do.”

PJ Media also reached out to Mercier but received no response by the time of publishing. If we do get one, we will update this article to reflect her statements.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Bill into law yesterday.