Parents outraged after Pinellas school hosts rally with pride, DEI topics for third graders

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – Following a children’s march at Shorecrest Preparatory School in Pinellas County, parents are outraged after it turned into an “activism rally” for third graders.

Florida’s Voice spoke with parents of the private school who said that Shorecrest third grade teacher Khana Rebman hosted the annual march as part of the school’s “Changemaker” curriculum for elementary school children on Jan. 19.

Video footage obtained by Florida’s Voice revealed the third grade teacher yelling for causes and directing the students to chant,  “drive out hate” and “be the change.”

Parents said the third graders were also holding signs, including some that said “Pride Matters,” “Stop using fossil fuels,” “Civil Rights Rule” with the Black Lives Matter fist, “Hate does not make America Great,” and more.

One parent described Rebman as a “far-left, social justice activist who doesn’t shy away from admitting she spills her views into her classroom of third graders.”

“It is obvious most of the students had no idea what was going on and based on the teacher, Khana Rebman, who hosted this and her opinions on DEI, Social Justice, and other prominent left-wing figures, the motive behind this march was purely indoctrination,” the mother said.

A school parent said Rebman chose to highlight Harvey Milk as her class’ “changemaker” leading up to the children’s march. Milk was a well-known activist for gay rights and helped design the gay pride flag.

A spokesperson from the school told Florida’s Voice that the third graders participated in the annual “Children’s March” as part of their “Changemakers unit of inquiry, a grade-level study through which students learn about people throughout history who worked to make a positive difference in the world.”

Director of Marketing and Communications at Shorecrest Preparatory School Rachel Martin Barrett said the children’s march “allows the students to share their personal beliefs and passions with their peers and families.”

“Because of the diversity of our school community you’ll see a number of different perspectives represented in the signs students chose to display,” Barrett said. “These causes and phrases are not teacher-directed, but rather are student-driven based on their own research and personal interests.”

Barrett said all third grade parents were invited to participate in the event.

A mother of three children who attend the school told Florida’s Voice she has had “consistent ideology issues” over the years with the school. She attended the event with her third grade son and said what she witnessed caused concern.

The mother said a teacher was “on the bullhorn with a bunch of little third graders sitting in front of her [and] yelling for causes, and [the kids were] chanting back at her.”

After that, she said the teacher and students marched around the school. When the mom walked around to see what was happening, she said her son ran toward her “shaking” and said “mom, my brain is telling me I’m in danger, what is happening?”

Her son said “my teacher was screaming ‘drive out hate’ and the veins in her neck were popping out.”

She said her son questioned why they were “so angry” and told her he was praying for protection.

“I honestly could not be happier that he saw that,” the mother said. “I think it was a defining moment for him. But I was looking around in the crowd, I repeatedly was looking at parents in the eye that I didn’t even know and saying, ‘guys, we need to snap out of it, these are our kids.’”

The mother said she and her husband have faced “many problems” with the “liberal leaning school.”

She said one week before the Changemaker march, her son came home from school and asked her what the word gay meant.

She explained that she found it “so inappropriate” and was concerned why her son asked her that, since she hadn’t even discussed the “birds and the bees” with her children yet.

The mom emailed her son’s teacher regarding what was read to her son as part of the Changemaker curriculum to “ignite this conversation” and the teacher asked to meet her in person.

She and her husband met with their son’s teacher the following week. The school’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion Roderick Flood and a woman who was “some type of legal” aide also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, she said her son’s teacher handed her the book that was read to her son, which was Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders.

The mom said Harvey Milk was a “renowned pedophile” and told them she’s “really not okay with [her] young son being taught about a famous pedophile.”

“I said, this behavior from you guys is bordering on grooming, creepy, you guys are becoming creeps,” the mom said. “Like at some point, diversity is crossing a line that becomes sexually dysfunctional and predatory.”

She said the members at the meeting were “trying to placate” her, and she asked to see a list of the “Changemakers” from the curriculum, to which she said they responded, “we don’t give parents that.”

After insisting, the mother said the teacher allowed her to see the list of “Changemakers.” She said former President Barack Obama and former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, Malcom X, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and “every person related to Barack Obama” were included on the list. She called it the “most unbalanced list.”

She said the school professes to be “tolerant and balanced,” but questioned “where is Clarence Thomas? Where is Elon Musk? Where is Thomas Edison?”

“They were like, ‘well, we will be open to any of your suggestions.’ And I said, ‘that’s a lie. That’s a lie. I am calling you out now, that is a lie,'” she said.

She said a few years ago, there was a book read to students in the classroom titled “Sparkle Boy,” which she said is about a boy who chose to be a girl.

When she and her husband voiced their concerns about that book to the school’s headmaster, she said she was told “over and over” that if she doesn’t align with the school’s mission of diversity and equity, she “can leave.”

Shorecrest is a private independent school. Florida law that prevents public schools from teaching children of various grades about topics like gender identity, sexual orientation and enforcing or pushing other politically charged opinions, applies to public schools.

Shorecrest’s diversity and inclusion mission statement says they “strive to be a community that is diverse, inclusive, and equitable.”

The mother said she thinks there “needs to be some legislation […] to protect parents” at private schools.”

“There’s so much gaslighting with the school being so prestigious and people are almost paralyzed to go against it, or not go, or leave, and I think that people need to know what the school is about,” the mother said.

Following the children’s march, the mother said she is looking to send her children to a different school.