![]() ![]() In October 2020, as communities across the nation continued to reckon with systemic racism, Donofrio put up the Black Lives Matter flag above her classroom door. The complaint also alleges that her students experienced “racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation” over the years at the hands of the school district.Īmy Donofrio told CNN she wanted her classroom to be a safe space where Black students felt supported and free to speak openly about issues of race. The complaint says they canceled the class and eventually relegated it to a school activity, citing budget cuts. She and her students earned national attention, and the course eventually became the organization known as the EVAC Movement.ĭespite the course’s success, Donofrio accused school administrators of being unsupportive behind the scenes. ![]() representing her – is suing Duval County Public Schools and its regional high school superintendent, alleging that the district retaliated against her “for her protected speech, her complaints about discrimination, and, more broadly, her support of Black students’ lives.”Įven before Donofrio put the Black Lives Matter flag above her classroom door, tensions between her and the school district were brewing, according to the complaint.ĭonofrio had for several years led a course aimed at empowering Black students through professional development, college preparation and civic engagement. Now, Donofrio – with the Southern Poverty Law Center and Scott Wagner and Associates, P.A. Days later, Donofrio was reassigned to non-teaching duties and the district said it had opened a “human resources matter to review allegations of potential misconduct” against her.ĭuval County Public Schools declined to answer specific questions regarding those incidents, citing an ongoing internal investigation and open litigation. The situation boiled over in March, leading administrators to have the flag removed. Over the course of several months, Donofrio defied requests from school officials to take down the flag and challenged the district on its treatment of Black students and staff, according to a federal complaint filed in April. It was brought up in discussions about whether the school should abandon its Confederate namesake, and cited by Florida’s education commissioner as an example of “indoctrination” and “critical race theory” in schools – even though the discipline was not part of Donofrio’s curriculum. Subscribe to our cybersecurity podcast, CYBER.Group of Maine students protest after the district told teachers and staff not to display support for 'Black Lives Matter'īut the flag, as well as Donofrio’s outspokenness on racial justice, would come to be a political flash point that reverberated across the state. Rush, and Senator Ron Wyden then demanded an independent investigation into how the agencies have been spying on Black Lives Matter protests. The footage gathered from that flight is now publicly available after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by network security professional Emily Crose.Īfter Motherboard's and BuzzFeed News' reporting on the surveillance of Black Lives Matter protests, 35 members of Congress demanded that federal agencies stop spying on peaceful protestors. The FBI and Portland Police Bureau also flew their own Cessna aircraft around the same time, Motherboard reported.Ĭustoms and Border Protection (CBP) flew an unarmed Predator drone over Minneapolis as protesters moved through the city, Motherboard also reported at the time. The RC-26B is a reconnaissance plane carrying infrared and electro-optical cameras, and has previously been used on counter-narcotic missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last year, Motherboard reported authorities flew an RC-26B aircraft over Washington, D.C., as well as the same type of plane over Las Vegas. Multiple law enforcement agencies have deployed aerial surveillance against anti-police brutality protests over the last year, especially in the wake of murder of George Floyd. The news conference was attended by a crowd of around 50 supporters, Florida Today added. Crump even commented during the news conference that Tasha Strachan, the mother of A.J., may need to speak louder because of a helicopter flying overhead, according to the WESH 2 News recording.
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