Duval County Public Schools this month agreed to pay a former teacher and her attorneys $300,000 to settle a federal lawsuit after the instructor was removed from her classroom position for refusing to remove a Black Lives Matter flag.
As a result of a public records request, the Florida Record obtained a copy of the settlement agreement involving former teacher Amy Donofrio, the Duval County school board and region superintendent Scott Schneider.
The school board voted 6-1 to accept the settlement during an Aug. 3 board meeting, but officials did not disclose the details of the settlement. Under the terms of the agreement, Donofrio will receive $240,000, less what is withheld in payroll taxes, and $60,000 will go to her attorneys at Scott Wagner & Associates, which has offices in Florida and California.
In the agreement, Donofrio acknowledges that her employment contract with Duval Schools expired on June 30 and was not renewed.
“Employee agrees not to apply for reemployment by the School Board in the future and acknowledges that Employee will be ineligible for reemployment if Employee applies for reemployment by the School Board,” the settlement states.
Donofrio had been a teacher at the former Robert E. Lee High School, which is now called Riverside High School. As a result of her dispute with school district officials, she filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), arguing that she had faced retaliation based on her race and sex. She also filed a federal lawsuit with the Middle District of Florida based on multiple statutes.
The school board will not conclude a disciplinary investigation into allegations that Donofrio engaged in misconduct, according to the settlement. In addition, Donofrio is withdrawing her pending public records requests made to the district.
School board members expressed support for the settlement after their hired counsel, Stephen Busey, told them that the litigation could drag on for three to five years and cost up to $3 million if it reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Given the length of a possible trial, even though we know we didn’t do anything wrong, these are taxpayer dollars, and I just can’t support spending those kinds of dollars over a three- to five-year period,” board member Warren Jones said during the Aug. 3 board meeting.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which helped Donofrio file her lawsuit, argued that her experience was part of a pattern of actions against educators who worked to support Black students and oppose racism.
“Unfortunately, Ms. Donofrio is not alone,” Evian White De Leon, an SPLC attorney, said in a prepared statement. “We are seeing teachers across Florida and the country who are facing persecution from their school districts for teaching the truth in schools and for creating safe learning spaces for all children.”