A Florida school board will pay $300,000 to a former high school teacher who was removed from her teaching position after displaying a Black Lives Matter flag over her classroom door.
As reported by USA Today, Amy Donofrio had been teaching at Riverside High School (formerly Lee High) when she was dismissed from teaching duties in March after refusing to take down a BLM flag when administrators asked her to.
Donofrio was then reassigned to warehouse operations and the district said she was under investigation over "several matters." She said the action taken against her was unfair.
The teacher's legal rep, Southern Poverty Law Center, argued that the reassignment was merely put in place in order to "retaliate" against Donofrio and stated that it infringed on her right to free speech.
Earlier this month, the Duval School Board decided to put an end to the case and prevent potentially shelling out millions of dollars in court by agreeing to reach a settlement with Donofrio.
"Though we know we haven't done anything wrong, these are taxpayer dollars," board member Warren Jones said, according to the outlet.
Of the $300,000 settlement, $240,000 will go to Donofrio and the remaining $60,000 to her legal team.
Donofrio's teaching contract was not renewed with Duval Schools and, in fact, the agreement states that she is not permitted to regain employment within Duval Schools.
"Teaching is not just my career, it's my life, my heart," Donofrio told USA Today earlier this month when the case was settled. "Being unable to return to my classroom this fall devastates me beyond what I can fully articulate."
Before the settlement, Florida State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran appeared to refer to the case but did not mention Donofrio by name.
Per WJCT, Corcoran said in a speech about critical race theory: "I’m getting sued right now in Duval County, which is in Jacksonville because there was an entire classroom memorialized to Black Lives Matter.
"We made sure she was terminated and now we’re being sued by every one of the liberal left groups who say it’s freedom of speech issue."