MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Miami-Dade Public Schools teacher was sent home from work this week, apparently because of her politically charged social media posts.
Audrey Betancourt is passionate about her kids. She was Rookie Teacher of the Year at Coral Way K-8 Center.
“I love my kids and I love what I do,” she told Local 10′s Glenna Milberg. “I’m an art teacher. Who doesn’t love art?”
Betancourt is also passionate about her politics. She is a former GOP committeewoman.
“I never, ever, ever put my views on anyone or talk about politics,” she said. “Nobody knows anything about my politics or anything like that.”
Miami-Dade School District saw Betancourt’s postings on the social media app Parler on Monday, apparently learning about her postings that afternoon.
Then her principal told her to stay home Tuesday, without explanation. She has since been reassigned out of the school during a review.
“I felt that I lived in a free society, that I could feel something but as long as I don’t go out and commit that, I can say that. I’m allowed to say that,” she said.
The Parler platform is now inaccessible, in in those posts:
One was taken at a Trump caravan in Doral in which Betancourt suggested they could run over ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter if they threaten and block roads.
She also posted a video by the Proud Boys and forwarded someone who said “hang Nancy Pelosi.”
In her defense, Betancourt said, “When I feel that there is treason going on, treasonous acts, and when someone is treasonous you can possibly be arrested, killed, hung, whatever.”
In another post, Betancourt quoted the former president, “I will never give up. I will never give in. Fight like hell.”
She said President Trump was a fierce fighter and made her one too, but will she fight for her art teaching job?
“I’m not sure how hard I would fight,” she said. “Maybe for the right, but not for my job.”
Betancourt said she knows of no school rules or policy she broke.