The district cites its own investigations into four complaints against the Pine View history teacher.
By Noah Bookstein
Original Air Date: October 1, 2026
Host: Sarasota County Schools has answered the Florida Attorney General’s demand to fire a Pine View School teacher. The district’s reply points back to its own investigations, not his accusations. Noah Bookstein reports.
Noah Bookstein: WSLR News obtained the Sarasota County School Board’s response to Attorney General James Uthmeier, sent Tuesday, September 29, ahead of the October 1 deadline. It came from the board’s attorney, Patrick Duggan of the Shumaker law firm.
First page of the Attorney General’s letter
Uthmeier, appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis and now in a tight election race against Democrat José Javier Rodríguez, sent his letter to Superintendent Terry Connor on September 21 and posted it to social media. According to the teachers’ union, it undercut the district’s usual disciplinary process by relying on unsubstantiated allegations against Pine View teacher Liz Ballard.
In the responding letter, Duggan largely repeats the district’s own findings from its internal investigations of Ballard, which WSLR News also reviewed.
Uthmeier’s letter cited information from the Office of Parental Rights—set up within the Attorney General’s office to investigate and litigate government and school district overreach. The letter alleged Ballard bullied and harassed a student over his conservative views. Uthmeier said she should be fired and lose her teaching certificate. But it hedged from the start, saying “if true” and “provided these facts are corroborated.” It did not say who made the complaint, and his office did not substantiate the claims. WSLR News has requested the complaint from the Attorney General’s office but has not received any documents.
Pine View School teacher Elizabeth Ballard | Screenshot from Sarasota County Schools video via Suncoast Searchlight
The district’s attorney describes four cases involving Ballard.
The first stretches from late 2024 into this school year. Investigators found she responded to a student’s behavior more intensely and for longer than needed, in a way the family could reasonably see as targeting the student. Superintendent Terry Connor suspended her for three days without pay and reported the case to the state’s educator-certification office.
The second, opened in February, involved a student’s complaint about grading, private information and comments. Investigators found the allegations unsupported, so the case was closed with no disciplinary action.
The third began in May, after Ballard reported a student’s conduct. Surveillance footage and witness statements did not back up her account, and the district called the allegation unfounded. Investigators found no proof she knowingly gave false information, but Connor suspended her for five days without pay. The suspension is being grieved and was also reported to the state.
Second page of the Attorney General’s letter
The fourth is a complaint filed this month. No findings have been made, and the district says decisions about discipline or reporting are premature.
The Attorney General’s letter does not say which case it concerns, but it appears to describe the first, a dispute that began in the fall of 2024, according to district records obtained by WSLR News.
The records show a student made remarks in Ballard’s history class that set off an argument, including a comment that he could beat any woman in a fight. The remarks were tied to Andrew Tate, an online influencer who faces human trafficking and sexual abuse charges in Romania and the U.K. Ballard called the student’s parents and emailed the student that she would not tolerate misogyny in her class. The district’s report says the family felt Ballard began targeting their son after she disagreed with his views.
Suncoast Searchlight reported that the family appears to be connected to Lon Deckard, a DeSantis-appointed State College of Florida trustee who is the student’s grandfather. The outlet cites campaign finance records showing Deckard has given more than $40,000 to Republican candidates and conservative committees this year. Suncoast Searchlight says the records do not show whether he was involved in the complaints.
Days after calling for Ballard’s firing, Uthmeier spoke at Mullet Aluminum in Sarasota on Friday, September 25. Asked about the Pine View case, he repeated the allegations; he said he could not comment further and abruptly stopped taking questions.
James Uthmeier, at a press conference in Sarasota last week. | Photo: J. Werner
James Uthmeier: I did not think that teacher should be able to keep teaching, but there’s a process for that. The Department of Education will do their own investigation. I am not involved in the nitty-gritty of that and cannot comment on it. We’ll have to see what they ultimately come up with.
NB: Ballard has drawn support. The Democratic Public Education Caucus of Manasota called the Attorney General’s actions a “witch hunt” and said she is owed an apology. A petition from Pine View community members asks for a fair, thorough process and for the community to be heard.
Reporting for WSLR News, Noah Bookstein.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6pm.