Florida father sues teacher and school in response to LGBTQ flags in class, alleges violation of state Parents’ Bill of Rights

A father in Florida is suing his son’s school district following a teacher’s decision to put up LGBTQ flags in her classroom and to then “proselytize.”

According to a local news report, Frank Deliu’s 7th-grade son told him Sept. 16 that his computer science teacher had put two rainbow flags up in the classroom at Emerald Cove Middle School in Wellington, near West Palm Beach. When the students asked about the flags, Deliu alleges the teacher “then used a search engine to find websites about homosexual lifestyles and ‘proselytized to the students in class’.”

After the incident, Deliu submitted a complaint to the middle school principal, Eugina Smith-Freeman, who he says dismissed it. Further pressure from Deliu reportedly resulted in the principal’s statement that the school board would discuss the matter.

When Deliu requested that his son be taken out of the class temporarily, he was told that the school would look into moving him to another computer class. Instead, the school “unilaterally and without notice to Dr. Deliu moved his son into an art class,” according to the suit. When Deliu approached the school board once again, he was told the issue had been sent to the Office of Professional Standards for the district.

Deliu then filed suit against the school district, the teacher, the principal, and the Palm Beach County School Board. His claims include alleged violation of Florida’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, a law that protects the rights of parents regarding their children’s schooling. 

In an interview last week, Deliu told Fox News another Emerald Cove teacher has since put up an LGBTQ flag. Deliu also says he was assaulted by school police when he went to discuss this second flag incident, and he plans to amend the lawsuit to address that incident. 

“It is not the school’s function to propagandize my child with individual teachers’ beliefs, because that’s the danger,” Deliu told another local news outlet. “One teacher might be in favor of gay pride. The next one might be against gay pride. Do we just have random symbols of what each teacher feels like putting up in terms of indoctrinating our children on social or political or religious issues? I don’t think we should.” 

An initial hearing for the case is scheduled for Tuesday.