Brevard County, FL – A Brevard Public Schools student who criticized the school board with a profanity containing off-campus email found herself suspended in a blatant act of government retaliation against protected speech. The incident – involving Satellite High junior Savanna Pollitt and School Board Vice-Chair Megan Wright – has ignited outrage among parents and students, many of whom see it as a clear First Amendment violation by a public official.
Savanna Pollitt, 17, was angered by the district’s treatment of one of her teachers, Melissa Calhoun, an Advanced Placement English teacher at Satellite High School whose contract was not renewed after she used a student’s preferred name without written parental consent. Calhoun’s removal – ostensibly for violating a new rule requiring parental permission to use any name other than a child’s legal name – sparked student protests on campus earlier in April. Savanna, though not currently in Calhoun’s class, was “frustrated” watching her peers rally to support a beloved teacher who she felt was being wronged.
Determined to speak out, Savanna composed an emotional email on Saturday, April 12. Crucially, she sent it over the weekend from her personal email account, off school grounds – a private act of expression outside of any school activity. In the message addressed to Board Member Megan Wright, Savanna did not hold back her fury over Calhoun’s ouster. “I learn more off social media then your stupid [expletive] teaching lessons,” she vented, using an expletive to convey her disgust. “The Brevard County public schools has done nothing but prepared me for failure so I hope you’re happy. The way you guys run [expletive] is not right and it’s stupid.” The email’s harsh language underscored the teen’s deep sense of betrayal and injustice.
Savanna Pollitt’s email quote: “I learn more off social media then your stupid [expletive] teaching lessons… The Brevard County public schools has done nothing but prepared me for failure so I hope you’re happy. The way you guys run [expletive] is not right and it’s stupid.”
Savanna later explained that her mother had always taught her to “speak your mind” and not stay silent in the face of wrongdoing. That guidance, combined with Savanna’s conviction that the school board had treated Ms. Calhoun unfairly, drove her to send the fiery message. “My mom always taught me… If I see something that’s not right, I’m going to speak up,” she said. Little did they suspect that this off-campus outburst would lead to disciplinary action at school – raising serious constitutional questions.
Megan Wright – who was elected in 2022 with backing from the conservative Moms for Liberty group– received Savanna’s email and swiftly escalated the situation. Rather than respond privately or ignore the weekend rant, Wright forwarded the message to district officials and even Savanna’s mother, effectively initiating disciplinary action. In her reply, Wright copied Brevard’s superintendent Mark Rendell and Satellite High Principal Courtney Lundy, and pointedly warned Savanna’s mother of consequences. “I feel it’s imperative that you have a copy of this email as your child will incur discipline,” Wright wrote to the parent.
Wright’s email made clear that Savanna’s critique had been officially reported for punishment. The board member – an self-proclaimed parental-rights advocate – not only alerted school administrators but also admonished Savanna’s tone. “I understand the student’s frustrations with the decisions the district has made,” Wright wrote in the same email chain, “I don’t understand how anyone (adult or child) [could] feel this type of email and language will achieve anything productive to the situation.” By Monday, school officials had contacted Savanna’s family. At Wright’s behest, Savanna’s mother spoke with the school and the 17-year-old was hit with a one-day suspension for her coarse message.
The discipline was logged as a “major” infraction in Brevard’s student conduct code, categorized alongside serious disruptions or threats. It appears school administrators deemed Savanna’s vulgar language and criticism of the board as a significant offense, despite it occurring off-campus on a weekend. Wright – a Moms for Liberty chapter member known for championing “parents’ rights” in education – had effectively used her government position to punish a student for complaining about a school decision. To many, that crossed a red line.
Quote from Wright’s email to parent: “I feel it’s imperative that you have a copy of this email as your child will incur discipline.” – Megan Wright, in an email copying the superintendent and principal, April 13
Savanna, realizing her weekend missive had provoked a serious response, sent a follow-up apology via email as the school instructed. But the wheels were already in motion. On April 17, she served the suspension – kept home from school for the day as punishment. “They’re going against your First Amendment right,” Savanna’s mother told her in disbelief, noting that her daughter “used [her] own personal email” off school property and thus had every right to speak her mind. The family began to push back, sensing that Savanna’s constitutional rights were being trampled.
News of Savanna’s suspension spread quickly, sparking public backlash and drawing sharp criticism from free speech advocates. The controversy came to a head at an April 22 school board meeting, where outraged students and community members blasted the board for punishing a teenager’s private expression. Even Jennifer Jenkins, a former Brevard school board member and frequent opponent of Wright, spoke out emphatically on Savanna’s behalf. Jenkins highlighted the deep irony of the situation: the board’s own rules protect far more offensive speech during public meetings, yet a student was disciplined for an off-site email.
“Here is the irony: If that student came here and read the exact same email with every single word here at this podium, they can’t be disciplined,” Jenkins pointed out at the meeting. Indeed, under school board policy and U.S. Supreme Court precedent, students retain robust free speech rights – even to use profanity – when addressing officials in a public forum. Savanna’s email, while crude, voiced a political opinion about school leadership; had she delivered those words during the board’s open comment session, punishing her would have been illegal. By calling for her suspension over a weekend email, Jenkins suggested, Wright was violating the very principles of free expression the board is supposed to uphold.
Jenkins went further, directly calling out Wright’s hypocrisy in light of Wright’s frequent rhetoric about empowering parents. “You say often you don’t co-parent with the government,” Jenkins said, addressing Wright from the dais. “Yet here you are, the government, co-parenting.” In other words, Wright – who champions parental authority over education decisions – had inserted herself (the government) into a parenting matter by deciding how to discipline someone else’s child for speaking out. Especially since the mother of the child, supported her actions. To many in attendance, this was a startling about-face for a Moms for Liberty-aligned board member who normally rails against government overreach. You can hear Jenkins’ remarks at the April 22nd school board meeting below.
Savanna’s suspension was denounced as an unconstitutional retaliation against a student’s speech. Legal experts point out that off-campus speech – especially political speech criticizing school officials – enjoys strong protection. In a landmark 2021 case (Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.), the Supreme Court ruled that a school could not punish a cheerleader for a vulgar Snapchat rant posted off school grounds, affirming that students do not “shed their First Amendment rights” outside the school gates. By the same token, Savanna’s curse-filled email, sent from home on a Saturday, falls squarely under protected speech, critics argue. Unlike instances where off-campus speech might threaten violence or severe disruption, Savanna’s rant merely expressed an opinion about school leaders. Punishing her for it raised serious constitutional red flags.
Confronted with mounting criticism, Brevard Public Schools quickly reversed course. The day after the board meeting – on April 23 – Savanna was called into Principal Lundy’s office and informed that her suspension had been rescinded. She received an official apology, and administrators assured her the incident would “not go on her record.” Savanna was allowed back in class, her disciplinary record wiped clean as if the suspension never occurred. By all appearances, the district was tacitly acknowledging that punishing her for the email was a mistake and likely against the law.
However, the damage had already been done in some respects. Savanna missed an entire day of school on April 17 due to the suspension – a day she can’t get back. Records on the district’s FOCUS system initially still showed the suspension through April 24, causing confusion about her status. Only after former Board Member Jenkins publicized the issue on social media and community members expressed outrage did the district fully confirm that Savanna’s punishment was overturned.
In the aftermath, Savanna and her family have been left shaken but resolute. The 11th-grader says the ordeal won’t silence her or her classmates. “I’m done having students keep quiet,” Savanna said, vowing to continue speaking out when she sees wrongdoing. She hopes the incident will inspire more young people to exercise their voices – and serves as a warning that students should not face retribution for telling hard truths. “We want to be able to speak about the problems that are going on in school… We’re not ‘talking bad’ about it. We’re speaking facts,” Savanna said.
While Savanna’s record may be clear now, the legal and ethical fallout for those involved is just beginning. First Amendment advocates note that had the suspension not been reversed, the district could have faced a federal lawsuit on free-speech grounds – one it would almost certainly lose. Even with the quick reversal, Wright’s actions in triggering discipline for a student’s off-campus speech could expose the district to liability. Punishing someone for criticizing the government is the very behavior the First Amendment was designed to prevent, and the case law protecting student speech outside of school is well established. Savanna’s mother has publicly characterized the episode as a clear violation of her daughter’s rights, and the family could still choose to pursue legal remedies to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
There may also be ethical consequences for Megan Wright, the board member at the center of the storm. Florida law and school board policies prohibit officials from abusing their positions. By involving herself directly in a disciplinary matter – especially one that appears retaliatory – Wright opened herself to potential ethics complaints at the state level. Community members angered by what they see as bullying of a student have floated the idea of filing a formal complaint against Wright with the Florida Commission on Ethics or the school district. Such a complaint could investigate whether Wright’s move constituted an misuse of authority or a violation of board norms.
Adding to the irony, Wright’s own Moms for Liberty allies have fought bitterly for free speech rights in Brevard County. Just last year, the Brevard school board lost a high-profile First Amendment lawsuit filed by the local Moms for Liberty chapter and parents, who argued the board was unconstitutionally silencing them during public comment sessions. In October 2024, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down several of the board’s speech restrictions as unconstitutional, delivering a “decisive and significant victory for free speech” to Moms for Liberty. The case which cost the district substantial legal fees, affirmed that government officials cannot muzzle or punish speakers simply for being “offensive.” Yet now a Moms for Liberty-aligned official stands accused of doing exactly that to a 17-year-old critic. Many parents are outraged at the apparent double standard: free speech for the board’s allies, but punishment for a student dissenter.
“This is exactly the kind of government overreach that Moms for Liberty claims to oppose,” said one parent at the board meeting, who demanded accountability for Wright’s actions. Others noted the expensive déjà vu of the situation – Brevard taxpayers have already footed the bill for one First Amendment legal battle, and another lawsuit sparked by a board member’s thin skin is the last thing the district needs.
Megan Wright has positioned herself as a champion of parental rights and transparency in education. When defending the removal of teacher Melissa Calhoun earlier this month, Wright stressed that the issue was about respecting parents’ authority over their children’s upbringing. “Regardless of the name or identity a student chooses, it is the right of the parents to be informed,” Wright said of the Calhoun case. She argued that the teacher had “failed to comply with both the law and district policies” by not notifying the parent of the student’s preferred name, calling it “a serious breach of professional duty”. In Wright’s view, nothing was more important than keeping parents in the loop and upholding the law.
But Wright’s retaliation against Savanna Pollitt stands in stark contrast to those professed values. In the Calhoun matter, Wright cast herself as protecting a family’s rights – yet in Savanna’s case, Wright trampled the rights of an entire family (Savanna and her mother) to voice dissent. By intervening to discipline Savanna for her speech, Wright essentially inserted the government into the parent-child relationship in a way that her “parents’ rights” platform is supposed to reject. Savanna’s mother was not asking for her daughter to be punished – on the contrary, she supported Savanna’s right to speak freely. It was Wright, acting as a government official, who decided to “play parent” by enforcing consequences for speech that offended her.
Wright’s hardline stance on the Calhoun incident also emphasized following the letter of the law. She insisted that teachers must abide by Florida statutes and district rules without exception. Yet in Savanna’s case, Wright showed little regard for the higher law of the Constitution, which forbids government officials from retaliating against citizens – including minors – for their speech. This contradiction has not been lost on observers. “She doesn’t get to have it both ways,” one local resident commented. “You can’t preach about the law and parents’ rights one minute, then break the law by punishing a kid for speaking her mind the next.”
Even within the school board, there appears to be recognition that Savanna’s suspension was mishandled. Neither Superintendent Rendell nor Principal Lundy has publicly defended the discipline; the speed of the suspension’s revocation and the apology delivered speak volumes. Yet Megan Wright has remained notably silent in the aftermath. Florida Today reported that Wright did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the incident. She has offered no public explanation or apology for her role in the affair, leaving many parents to wonder if she grasps the seriousness of what occurred. Hear Wright’s comments on parental rights in the video below from the same school board meeting.
The fallout from Savanna Pollitt’s case is still unfolding, but it has already become a rallying point for parents across Brevard County who are fed up with what they perceive as government overreach in schools. In their eyes, an elected school board member actively caused a student to be punished for criticizing the school district – an act more befitting an authoritarian regime than an American public school. The emotionally charged situtation has galvanized parents of all political parties who might disagree on other issues but find common ground in defending a child’s right to speak freely without fear of retribution.
Local watchdog groups and civil rights organizations are monitoring the situation closely. The family has not ruled out action, noting that any attempt by a school to punish off-campus speech is presumptively unconstitutional after the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling. Some community members have started calling for Wright’s resignation from the board, or at minimum a public censure, arguing that she has violated the public’s trust. “If she can do this to someone else’s kid for sending an email, what message does that send to our children?” one mother stated, adding that students should never feel afraid to criticize their government.
Savanna Pollitt’s stand is already effecting change. The publicity around her case has prompted Brevard Public Schools to re-examine its discipline policies for off-campus conduct, according to insiders. Board member Jennifer Jenkins is urging the district to clarify that weekend, off-site speech is off-limits for school punishment, unless it poses a true threat. Jenkins and others point out that school board members should forward serious safety concerns – not angry opinions – and that Wright’s decision to forward Savanna’s email as a disciplinary matter was a gross misuse of power.
As for Savanna, she remains defiant and hopeful. “I want us [students] to be able to speak about the problems…without any teachers or [administrators] saying, ‘Oh no, don’t talk bad about our school,’” she said after her suspension was overturned. “No, we’re just telling facts.” Her bold message to the Brevard school board – however profanely delivered – has shone a spotlight on the fragility of free speech in the face of authority. Thanks to community pressure, the immediate wrong to Savanna was righted. But the incident serves as a cautionary tale: When government officials forget that the First Amendment even protects teenage critics, it falls on the public to remind them – loudly, and without apology.
