A Florida student was branded ‘most likely to become a dictator’ by his teacher and classmates after sharing his conservative views at school.
The teen, who attends Gainsville High School, was handed the certificate by his history teacher Lauren Watts in May 2023, according the boy’s mother, Crystal Marull.
Marull shared her story before the State Board of Education last week as she called out the local school district in Alachua for allegedly discriminating against conservatives.
‘This school district is toxic for conservative families and you can see exactly why they don’t want to show up for school meetings,’ she said.
‘The toxic environment goes down to the school level, and they are encouraged to discriminate against conservative children.’
She added: ‘My older son’s history teacher allowed students to label him a ‘Naziphile’ simply for his interest in history and participation in ROTC.
‘She later nominated my son as the ‘most likely to become a dictator’ and had his classmates vote on it.
‘And try to force him to the front of the class to receive the certificate, which he rightly refused, all because of his conservative values and our perspectives.’
Crystal Marull shared her story before the Florida State Board of Education last week as she called out the local school district for allegedly discriminating against conservatives
Her son was handed the above certificate by his own history teacher in 2023
As Marull spoke ,she held aloft the certificate, which reads, Ms. Watts Class Superlatives 2023, Most Likely to Become a Dictator.
‘His feelings were hurt, he found it very inappropriate. But you know, he’s a typical teenage boy,’ the mother explained.
‘He’s going to try to laugh it off and not show if it really does hurt him more deeply or not. He kind of let it roll.
‘I was far more concerned because I believe it spoke to a larger problem within that classroom.
‘It spoke to the problem that it appeared that this teacher was not equipped to be teaching history as she didn’t seem to appreciate history.’
The boy claims fellow students had confused his dreams of being a US Diplomat with that of a dictator.
In a statement to the Alachua Chronicle, he said: ‘A series of social media posts by a fellow student confused my dreams of becoming a U.S. Diplomat for a Dictator – two words that both begin with ‘D’ that have very different meanings.
‘Because of this, I’ve come under attack by a mob of current and former students of Gainesville High School.
The boy claims ‘a mob’ of students have attacked him over his beliefs, for what he thinks is a simple misunderstanding
As she spoke at the State Board of Education meeting , Marull she held aloft the certificate her son was given
‘If the difference between “diplomat: and “dictator” is not understood by high school, it reveals a deeper crisis in civic education and another sign of failure of Alachua’s public schools.’
Marull told Fox News that she reached out the district about the incident but they were not responsive. Watts was placed on leave last week while the school district probes the incident
‘The district is investigating the incident shared by Dr. Marull during the August 20 State Board of Education meeting,’ Alachua County Public Schools said.
‘The employee involved has been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is underway.’
Marull, who works at the University of Florida coordinating the online Spanish program, has been a vocal critic of sexually explicit books in schools.
She told the board meeting last week that her views also caused her six-year-old son to be barred from sitting next to his friend on the school bus.
In a statement to Fox New, a fellow parent called on the chair of Alachua County Public Schools, Sarah Rockwell, to resign.
Rockwell had made comments saying ‘one less MAGA in the world’ after the death of Hulk Hogan.
She released a statement about her remark, acknowledging she made a ‘cruel and flippant comment.’
‘I never have and never will wish harm on anyone regardless of whether we share political views,’ Rockwell added.