Disney's 'Strange World' Gets Fla. Teacher Probed for Activism

A daughter of a judge for the 5h Judicial Circuit Court of Florida is working her first year as a fifth-grade teacher and is now under investigation for the state Department of Education for showing a Disney movie about green energy ideology.

The movie "Strange World" also featured Disney's first openly gay character, and the teacher did not seek the appropriate approval by the administration before showing the film Disney self-censors in other countries around the world.

Jenna Barbee, a first-year teacher and daughter of Judge Don Barbee, has been reported by Hernando County School Board member Shannon Rodriguez, who was endorsed by the conservative parents' rights group Moms for Liberty, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Rodriguez, whose daughter is in Jenna Barbee's first Winding Waters K-8 class, argued the movie is inappropriate for fifth graders. The movie does not have sexually explicit content, but it does have openly gay characters and pushes green energy ideology.

"The word indoctrination is thrown around a lot right now, but it seems that those who are using it are using it as a defense tactic for their own fear-based beliefs without understanding the true meaning of the word," Jenna Barbee argued at Tuesday's board meeting.

Jenna Barbee used the ties to an Earth science lesson as her reason for showing the movie in class.

But Disney refrains from showing the movie in the Middle East, China, Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria, Uganda, and other countries because of those countries' prohibition on sex and gender ideology in media, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

Hernando County is not far from Disney World in nearby Orlando, Florida, and the company has been exchanging legal barbs with Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis over its opposition to the state's Parental Rights in Education Act.

Rodriguez has been active in her short time on the board, campaigning for "smut" and "porn" be removed from the district libraries, according to the report.

Barbee admitted to the board she has made mistakes in life, mentioning her 7-year-old expunged record on a fraud charge, according to the Democrat.

"I'm a first-year teacher," she told the news outlet. "I've had to learn so much this year.

"I work with teachers who have taught for 20 years, 30 years, tell me every day it never used to be like this. Times have changed so much and they are so micromanaged, they're not allowed to teach anymore.

"They're basically a caregiver who has to teach the standards. Teachers stay for the children, but because of the laws and the fear of being let go for saying one wrong thing, they can't connect to their students."

Rodriguez denounced Barbee's continued activism and "playing the victim," according to the report.

"It is not a teacher's job to impose their beliefs upon a child: religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, any of the above," Rodriguez told the Tallahassee Democrat. "But allowing movies such as this assist teachers in opening a door, and please hear me, they assist teachers in opening the door for conversations that have no place in our classrooms."

Rodriguez said children are being used as a political "pawn in the crossfire" of the liberal agenda.

"As a leader in this community, I'm not going to stand by and allow this minority to infiltrate our schools," she added to the outlet.

Disney made the case for self-censoring the movie "Strange World" abroad, saying it does not want to change the film to fit the laws of other locales.

"In countries where we operate, we seek to share our stories in their original form as we and the artists involved have created them," according to Disney's updated Human Rights Policy. "If we make edits, because of legal or other considerations, they will be as narrow as possible. We will not make an edit where we believe it would impact the storytelling. In that circumstance, we will not distribute the content in that market."