Manatee Middle School investigation into Confederate video has ended

An investigation into a video created and narrated by a faculty member about “Confederate History Month,” showing students at Manatee Middle School is finished.

The video shown during morning announcements at the school was neither sanctioned nor approved by administrators. But below is a brief quote from the video.

“Every year our state celebrates the brave fight made by our man and woman called the civil war but make correctly titled the war to prevent southern independence,” the video says.

While it’s common for teachers to show videos during class, this presentation at Manatee Middle School during the morning announcements on April 13 had everyone’s attention.

“Good morning, Hurricanes. This is Mr. (bleep). If you didn’t know, April is an official celebrated month here in the state of Florida, named Confederate History Month,” you hear in the video.

Eventually, the two-minute-long video was uploaded to social media. It didn’t take long for parents to eventually see it and begin complaining to both Collier County schools and WINK News.

“Together, all 11 states formed what was called the Confederate States of America. From there on, America was two countries,” it says in the video.

Later, the district told WINK News the video was not sanctioned or authorized, and it’s not included in its curriculum guides and instructional materials. Collier County schools then launched an investigation into the history teacher’s actions.

“Every year, our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant brave fight and the countless sacrifices made by our men and women during what is known as the Civil War, but maybe more correctly titled the war to prevent southern independence,” it says in the video.

Since the video went viral, the history teacher claims he’s been “Doxed and harassed through phone calls and emails.” And he did not like how school board members so quickly spoke out against him. But, Wednesday afternoon, WINK News learned the district’s investigation determined there is no just cause for discipline.

WINK News spoke with people in Collier County to know what they thought about what happened.

“Our whole history might have changed, so how can you say something like that isn’t important to the building blocks of America,” Collier County resident Donna Ciambo said.

“I’m very disturbed about all of the pressures upon educators, and I’m not surprised if they’ll start losing a lot of teaches here,” Ciambo said.

“The district needs to step up and find out what was said after the fact because if they don’t, they dont know what the teacher was saying or doing. They have no idea whether or not he’s trying to persuade them,” Donna Reed, a visitor to Collier County, said.