A fifth-grade teacher is facing state scrutiny for screening an animated Disney film featuring a gay character to her students – and then defending the decision in a video statement to social media.
A first-year teacher in the Florida public school system, Winding Waters K-8’s Jenna Barbee was reported to the school board by one of her students’ mothers – and now claims state investigators probing the infraction are traumatizing her other pupils.
The film in question is 2022’s Strange World, an animated movie released in the fall to lukewarm reviews. Featuring a cast that included Jake Gyllenhaal, the film costed just south of $320million to make, but recouped less than half that, at $120 million.
A mere $35million of that came from other countries, with Disney refraining from airing the PG-rated flick in the Middle East, China, Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria, and Uganda due to its LGBTQ storyline – with the main character openly gay.
In an impassioned, six-minute spiel to TikTok Sunday, Barbee revealed how she is under investigation by Florida’s Department of Education for her decision, while continuing to insist the movie was in the confines of the state’s curriculum.
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A first-year teacher in the Florida public school system, Winding Waters K-8’s Jenna Barbee was reported for airing the film by one of her students’ mothers – and now claims state investigators probing the infraction are traumatizing her other pupils
The film in question is 2022’s Strange World, an animated movie with a cast that included Jake Gyllenhaal and a gay main character with a male love interest
‘Is a character in the movie LGBTQ? Absolutely,’ said Barbee of the protagonist played by gay comic Jaboukie Young-White, whose arc consists of a crush on another male character voiced by an openly gay actor.
‘Is that why I showed it? No.’
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The rookie instructor whose class consists of kids aged 10 and 11 went on to explain her thoughts on the matter, saying the sexual orientation of the film’s central figure had nothing to do with her choosing it.
‘I have a lot of fifth grade students who have come to me this year, long before showing this movie, talking about how they’re part of [the LGBTQ] community,’ she explained. ‘It’s not a big deal to me.’
‘So I just said, OK, awesome, I’m not pushing anything, just being accepting,’ Barbee went on to insist, before revealing how she believed district theories came to learn of her behind-closed door discretions. ‘That’s what I do.’
She further claimed that as part of the the Sunshine State-led probe, her pupils were now being individually escorted out of class to be interrogated by DOE officials – measures she slammed as not only crass but directly harmful, causing permanent damage to the preteen students.
‘Do you know the trauma that is going to cause to some of my students?’ Barbee asked in the viral video statement, which has been viewed millions of times and has garnered nearly 500,000 likes.
‘Some of them can barely come and have a conversation with me, and are just getting comfortable with me,’ she alleged. ‘And now an investigator is allowed to come and interrogate them. Are you kidding me? What is that showing them?’
Barbee proceeded to provide her reasoning in choosing the polarizing picture, arguing that it contained subjects relevant to earth science and that it was merely a treat for the youngsters following a hard few weeks of exams.
She also cited how she required all of the kids to bring back parent-signed permission slips in order to watch any PG movies – despite not notifying parents of the contents of the film in particular.
Her aim, she said, was to spread ‘the message of kindness, positivity and compassion for everyone’.
‘That is the key to the safety of our children,’ she added.
Now under investigation, the rookie instructor whose class consists of kids aged 10 and 11 said Sunday the sexual orientation of the film’s central figure had nothing to do with her decision to screen it, and that it was simply a reward for students following a hard few weeks of tests
