The Florida Attorney General accused the Sarasota teacher of trying to ‘cancel’ an eighth-grade boy.
By Alice Herman/Suncoast Searchlight
Host: The grandchild of a DeSantis appointee is at the center of complaints filed against a teacher at Pine View School in Sarasota. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier accused that teacher last week of trying to “cancel” an eighth-grade boy over his political views. Alice Herman with Suncoast Searchlight has this report.
Alice Herman: In a letter to the Superintendent of Sarasota County Schools, Uthmeier said his office had been informed that Pine View history teacher Elizabeth Ballard had labeled a student a misogynist and bullied him.
“If true,” Uthmeier wrote, the allegations warranted firing her and revoking her teaching certificate.
It was an unusual intervention by the state’s top legal authority into a local personnel matter involving a public school teacher. And it raised questions about how a classroom dispute reached the attorney general’s attention in the first place.
Uthmeier did not name the complainants. But government records reviewed by Suncoast Searchlight identify the family that appears to be at the center of the allegations. Suncoast Searchlight was able to connect that family through other public records to Lon Deckard, a business owner, Argus Foundation board member and Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee.
Lon Deckard was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the State College of Florida Board of Trustees | Photo of the SCF press release via Suncoast Searchlight
Deckard is the student’s grandfather. He was appointed by DeSantis last year to the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota District Board of Trustees along with Sarasota County School board member Karen Rose.
Deckard regularly contributes to conservative causes and has contributed more than $40,000 dollars to political committees and Republican candidates in 2026 so far.
Investigative reports relating to the complaints also mention the boy’s grandfather as being a supporter of the prestigious public school that his grandson attended. Numerous people familiar with the situation also corroborated the identity of the student’s family.
The records do not indicate whether Deckard was involved in those complaints, and Suncoast Searchlight could not determine how the dispute ultimately could have reached Uthmeier’s office. Deckard did not return calls or emails requesting his comment. The boy’s family declined to comment.
James Uthmeier. Photo: The Workmans by way of myfloridalegal.com
Sarasota County Schools records also provide a fuller account of classroom conflicts that preceded Uthmeier’s intervention, including one involving the grandson’s comments about abortion and social media influencer Andrew Tate as well as disagreements over classroom behavior and a dispute that continued long after the student left the teacher’s class.
According to a heavily redacted human resources investigation obtained by Suncoast Searchlight through a public records request, the boy’s family had been raising concerns about Ballard with school officials for more than a year.
The investigation, which was first reported on by WUSF, found no clear evidence that Ballard acted with “ill intent.” But it concluded that the student’s family could have reasonably viewed her handling of the situation as disproportionate.
In August, Ballard received a three-day suspension.
Ballard’s case stemmed from her first HR investigation in more than 20 years of teaching, according to a review of her personnel file. It illustrates the high stakes environment for teachers, who operate under intense scrutiny during a time in which political figures use the internet to call out and shame private citizens.
Shauna Dillavou is the CEO of the doxing prevention group Brightlines. She said that Uthmeier had “used his platform to identify a target and elevate a message against her.”
The records also reveal that Pine View Principal Stephen Covert told investigators that the incidents involving Ballard initially amounted to “a series of small incidences [sic] that didn’t warrant a large response at the time.” He referred the matter to human resources after the parents indicated they might take legal action.
It remains unclear what, if any, investigation Uthmeier’s office conducted before he publicly identified Ballard and asked for the school district’s response by October 1.
Uthmeier’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Students walk on the campus of Pine View School, where complaints against a history teacher prompted investigations by Sarasota County Schools and later drew the attention of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier | Photo: Emily Le Coz, Suncoast Searchlight
Ballard told Suncoast Searchlight the Attorney General’s comments and ensuing media frenzy have negatively impacted her students. She added that she had received a deluge of calls and messages of support.
The origins of Ballard’s conflict with the boy and his family began in 2024, according to the district report.
The student made comments about abortion during a U.S. history class, sparking an argument between him and “the girls in the room,” Ballard wrote in the report. The specific comment was redacted.
According to three people with direct knowledge who spoke to Suncoast Searchlight, the comment—which they said generated an uproar in class—was that the student opposed abortion unless the fetus was female.
Ballard told HR investigators, “I told him that abortion was not a part of our curriculum and that we are not discussing the topic in class.”
She then called the student’s parents. Ballard described the conversation as “productive,” writing that the father “mentioned [the student] had recently been watching YouTube shorts…and he thought the algorithm was suggesting Andrew Tate clips,” referring to the self-proclaimed misogynist social media influencer.
Tate is currently in U.S. custody and faces charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse in Romania and the U.K. He has achieved widespread attention among young male viewers, and that has spurred a far-reaching reckoning over the influence of misogynistic content on school-aged boys.
The father said his son was “being a typical teen and not listening to Dad,” according to Ballard. She said she asked if there was a coach, an uncle or another adult who might be able to talk to the student.
Pine View School teacher Elizabeth Ballard addresses the Sarasota County School Board during its March 5, 2024, meeting | Screenshot from Sarasota County Schools video via Suncoast Searchlight
Ballard wrote that she received an email from the student’s mother thanking her for the call and “how impactful it was.”
But Ballard told investigators the student continued to make comments she considered “inappropriate.” In one instance, she said, the student had “made a comment about Andrew Tate [in class] and then said he would ‘wipe the floor’ with any female he fought.”
Ballard then sent the student a stern email, which was included in the HR report.
“I find some of the comments you have made in class recently offensive and disrespectful to me as your teacher and women in general,” she wrote.
She added that she believed Tate was “poisoning the minds of young men” and warned the student that if he continued to make comments “that are inappropriate for my class” she would ask him to go to the assistant principal’s office and write a referral.
“I want to see you succeed in my class,” she wrote. “I like you and I think you have a lot of potential.”
The student was withdrawn from Ballard’s class the month after she first raised concerns about his behavior.
But the dispute did not end there. Over the course of roughly a year and a half, the parents continued to meet with Pine View’s principal and sent a “Formal Retaliation Letter” to Sarasota County Schools superintendent, according to the HR report.
In an interview with HR this February, the principal seemed to thread a careful needle in his description of the situation. According to the report, Covert described the parents as “wonderful people” and noted that “the grandfather is very involved in supporting the school.” Covert, the report says, sought to assuage the parents’ frustrations.
“During their recent interactions, [Covert] has tried to focus on the fact their child isn’t in her classroom and to instead focus on their student’s achievements and move forward,” the report reads.
Reporting for Suncoast Searchlight, this is Alice Herman. To read the full report, please visit suncoastsearchlight.org/pine-view-uthmeier-ballard-deckard-complaint.
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.