A Talbot Elementary School teacher has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation over accusations that she was directing students and faculty members to address her with the gender-neutral title “Mx.” rather than “Ms.” or “Mrs.”
Jackie Johnson, spokesperson for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS), confirmed the teacher had been placed on leave in a Wednesday email reply to Mainstreet.
Johnson did not immediately respond to a follow-up email inquiring about the teacher’s name.
In a Wednesday post on X, in which he also confirmed the teacher had been placed on leave, Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas called the allegations “deeply troubling and ones that I will not take lightly.”
The teacher’s temporary suspension stems from a letter Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent to Superintendent Kamela Patton and members of the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) on Wednesday.
In that letter, Uthmeier said his office had received a complaint about the teacher’s use of the “Mx.” title.
Uthmeier said “Mx.” “is a made-up term describing an individual who does not wish to identify her gender.”
He further argued that the title is an ideological “laden term that seeks to make educational professionals” and “children mouth support for nonsense.”
“Its usage is unfit for a Florida educational setting,” Uthmeier wrote.
The letter also said the teacher’s usage of the “Mx.” term violates Florida and federal law, as well as the school district’s policy.
In the letter, Uthmeier specifically references Florida Statue 100.071, which prohibits public K-12 employees from using “his or her preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or sex.”
“The legislature so declared it the policy of Florida’s public school system that ‘sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex,’” Uthmeier wrote.
The letter also cites the ACPS district manual, which states that staff members “cannot violate” section 100.071 of Florida Statutes in their “use of personal titles and pronouns in educational institutions.”
In the letter, Uthmeier calls for the “Mx.” title to be “dropped in the school setting immediately.”
He said failure “to take these necessary steps” could require his office to “undertake further legal enforcement measures and hold district officials liable as otherwise provided by law.”
The letter from Uthmeier comes as ACPS and the SBAC continue to face scrutiny from state leaders for controversial social media posts, violating a parent’s First Amendment rights and bullying accusations.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.