A Florida judge ruled in favor of a school district that barred a mother from volunteering at her children’s elementary school after discovering her work as a model for an adult website. The woman had sued the district for $1 million, claiming that she was unfairly excluded from participating in her children’s education due to her occupation.
The issue began when the school’s principal received an anonymous email from a concerned parent in 2021. The email included explicit photos of the mother and expressed alarm over her presence at the school. The sender claimed that her online content was widely known and suggested that her involvement in school activities was inappropriate.
Following the email, the school principal informed higher authorities, and the decision was made to prevent the mother from continuing as a volunteer. In response, she filed a lawsuit, arguing that her rights to due process and privacy had been violated.
After filing the lawsuit, she spoke publicly about feeling humiliated and unfairly judged. She asserted that no one should be discriminated against because of their profession and that she had always been a dedicated volunteer.
However, the judge ruled that she did not have a constitutional right to volunteer in the school program. In a written opinion, he noted that the school district’s policies did not grant individuals the right to participate, remain, or appeal removal from the volunteer program. The ruling emphasized that the school was within its authority to determine who could volunteer.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleged that the explicit images shared in the anonymous email had been widely circulated among school staff and media organizations through public records requests. The court found that since the images were publicly available, their distribution did not constitute an invasion of privacy.
With these findings, the judge granted the school district’s request for summary judgment, dismissing all claims in the lawsuit. The decision reinforced the school’s discretion in determining volunteer eligibility and clarified that no violation of due process or privacy had occurred.
