“Florida schools aren’t affirmation labs for confused adults”: Florida Attorney General requires Talbot Elementary teacher to stopping using “Mx”

Updated at 5 p.m. with response from Alachua County Public Schools

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter today to Alachua County Public Schools Superintendent Kamela Patton and the School Board, notifying them that a teacher at Talbot Elementary School is “forcing students and faculty to address her with the prefix ‘Mx.’ instead of ‘Ms.’ or ‘Mrs.'” The letter states that this violates Florida and federal law, in addition to the district’s policy.

In the letter, Uthmeier writes that Mx. “is an ideologically laden term that seeks to make educational professionals and — most damning — children mouth support for nonsense. Its usage is unfit for a Florida educational setting. Florida schools aren’t affirmation labs for confused adults. And public school teachers may not coopt students into their own sexual and biological confusions.”

The letter emphasizes Florida’s and the Supreme Court’s recognition of parental rights to “direct the religious upbringing of their children” and adds, “Compelling the use of a made-up appellation from the LGBT movement’s ever-evolving lexicon interferes with parents’ religious upbringing of their children.”

Florida Statute 1000.071(3) prohibits employees and contractors in K-12 schools from using “his or her preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex.” ACPS Policy 3210 requires instructional staff to “not violate F.S. 1000.071, which relates to the use of personal titles and pronouns in educational institutions.”

Uthmeier concluded, “Given your district’s history of troubling behavior — including allowing boys to sleep [in] girls’ cabins at an Alachua County Public School-controlled camp — it must stop immediately… Allowing teachers to coopt students into the project of gratifying their personal fetishes and fantasies directly disregards parents’ fundamental rights in directing the upbringing of their children… The ‘Mx.’ appellation must be dropped in the school setting immediately. And the district should consider whether this teacher’s (and her administration’s) disregard of state law and district policy merits discipline — potentially even removal. Failure to take these necessary steps immediately may require my office to undertake further legal enforcement measures and hold district officials liable as otherwise provided by law.”

Alachua County Public Schools Public Information Officer Jackie Johnson said, “The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while the district investigates this situation.”

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  • Stop with the warning letters and waiting for responses. Charge and prosecute for violation of state and federal law. Once these idiots start being convicted and losing certification they may get the hint.

    • There are few enough teachers as it is, kids are having different substitute teachers for their regular teachers for months. Revoking a teacher’s certification is ridiculous.

  • How is this district not embarrassed? It’s been horrible “woke” issues upon issues. Nothing, zero, zip on education just a bunch of grown ups wanting validation from children. A bunch of “pick me” weirdos. Arrest, fire and remove these freaks from polite society. They’re poisonous to our children and a blight on society. Must be terrible to be in such a free State yet trapped in this Portland-like district. How embarrassing for the rest of the respectable Floridians.

    • My children got an excellent education in Alachua County schools and had a great experience. Thank you teachers and administrators!
      It’s the corrupt and partisan values of our State leaders that give our society the wrong message not pronouns.
      10 million $$$ illegally siphoned from Medicaid/Medicare, millions spent spent flying immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard then hiding all the details…those actions ends up getting this charlatan a promotion to Attorney General? GOOD GRIEF!!!

  • Enough with the pronoun nonsense….too many of these kids can’t even read or write and don’t have a clue what a pronoun is.

  • Remember way back in the day when Ms. was considered horrible? Or women keeping their maiden names -oh the horror! Or like 50 years ago we couldn’t get a mortgage, a credit card, etc. Heck, it’s only been a little over a 100 years since we received the right to vote! Spare me you false concern.

    • Mx is part of the global commie agenda to overturn judeo-Christian culture that built your civilization. One domino of many is to confuse us about the lessons of fallen mankind since Adam & Eve (two genders only). It’s time to call out the ACLUSPLCDNC Party pawns of globalist commies 👹🤡👺👿💩🏳️‍🌈

    • Stephen Pinker, the Harvard linguist (and author of several books on the future and public affairs) said that the public adoption of Ms. came quickly because it was simple and logical, but the attempt to have pronouns selected by the person was neither, and would fail over the long run.

      Hopefully that prediction is correct.

  • The Alachua School District is in a real mess. Teachers’ playing the pronoun games, buses arriving two hours late. What is going on? the bus drivers should use PRN drivers. Persons that complete requirements but work as needed. I sure if you held a hiring fair and provided trainings many drivers would surface.

  • Mx. is literally for when you don’t know what to use, like if they are married (Mrs.) or prefer to use Ms., or if they use Miss. Also if the person you’re writing has a gender neutral name, like Pat and you still want to be respectful when addressing them.

    Using it is just way to make it more normal so people can address people in a way that doesn’t upset them. It doesn’t even have to do being trans?

  • Hallelujah we have state oversight! Alachua county thought we’d be a Blue Hole in northern Fla. 🤣🤣🤣

  • Some of this teacher’s coworkers and parents were obviously concerned. Now that ACPS has the states attention, everything done wrong will be sent directly to them. Time to play fair and by the rules. Law is law. Transgenderism is a mental illness that is being celebrated instead of treated. There’s no need for this to be forced on children and if my children were assigned that teacher, I’d ask for a switch immediately! It’s not right…I don’t care what anyone says. If society HAS to accept a man choosing to become a woman or vice versa, then society HAS to accept a white person choosing to become Asian or African American or vice versa. See how insane that sounds? Dear ACPS, get it together quick or risk continuing to lose more money to private and charter schools. Parents are over the nonsense. The bright blue pocket is no longer the majority. Kill the woke ideology and get back to the basics of educating students period. There needs to be a massive overhaul and clean up of the image. It’s not on the schools to do that, it’s on the district and the school board to do that. But until the board is cleaned up, we all know nothing will change. You’re losing FTE $$ by the millions and it’s only going to get worse. DO BETTER! Show the parents you care and follow the law or you’ll continue to lose more $$. People need to see action. Stop sweeping things under the rug and acting like it didn’t happen. DO SOMETHING

  • I am a big proponent of not having crazy people teach our kids. If you think that you are either a different gender than what you were born as, or that you are no gender at all, you are bat guano crazy and should be nowhere near children of any age!!

  • I agree with the substance of the letter – no demanding custom pronouns by teachers or any officials – but this guy is an idiot and full time cultural warrior wasting too much time on partisan BS and is presently under investigation by prosecutors in Leon County for his part in the $10 million hustle by Casey and Ron DeSantis that diverted state money to their personal campaign use. He should stick to the facts of this incident or have one of his aids write the letter, and hopefully with a little professionalism.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/florida-charity-casey-desantis.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tk8.TUTW.OC5o03jFc2mP&smid=url-share

  • This is continued proof that Alachua County is the dumbest place in the State of Florida – a complete laughing stock. When will people wake up and apply common sense rather than making a scene and trying to make a point (which is illegal)? Unreal

  • If I want to call myself Biddy, Goodwife, or Frauline, I have that right. How dare the government tell me which honorifics I can or cannot use. I hope Mx wins their ACLU lawsuit!

  • If I were a teacher, I would choose that you must use my selected referred to pronoun/title which is “King”. Alachua County could you live with that one too?

  • LBGTQ has gone way too far. I don’t want to see their rainbow junk everywhere in public places. They should NOT be allowed to do degenerate things in pride parades, should NOT have ANY gay stuff in schools or colleges supported by taxpayers.i do NOT want my tax$ going to ANY LGBTQ stuff. I don’t care what they do in their bedrooms but stop shoving their ideology in everyone’s face.

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