Talawanda teacher on administrative leave following political social media post

A Talawanda High School teacher is getting criticism online after posting a political video to TikTok.

The video, which is no longer on TikTok, got more than 8,000 views after an anonymous member reposted it to a Talawanda parents Facebook group at approximately 6 p.m. Nov. 7. The Facebook post has since gotten nearly 300 comments as of 10 a.m. Nov. 8.

In the video, filmed on Nov. 7, high school English teacher Danielle Mann speaks from what looks to be her classroom. She encourages men who voted for Democrats to identify themselves so that women will know who the “safe men” are following Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.

“That’s my challenge to you, is that you wear the blue bracelet, you wear the safety pin, you post your story to this app, or everywhere. Put it everywhere; live it out loud. That you tried to do right by the people of this country,” Mann says in the video. “The women need to see your faces; we need to know your names. We need to know where you live, because we are in danger.”

During the video, Mann fastens a safety pin to her cardigan. In 2016, some people used safety pins to signify support for “minorities, immigrants, women and members of the L.G.B.T. community” after Trump’s first election, according to reporting at the time from the New York Times.

The Associated Press called Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, in the early hours on Nov. 6. Trump carried every swing state in the Midwest and won Ohio by 11 points.

The district has placed Mann on administrative leave while it conducts an investigation into the incident. Holli Hansel, the district’s communications director, could not confirm whether any videos from Mann’s account had been filmed during contracted hours but did confirm that at least one was filmed on school property.

Hansel said the district had fielded numerous reports regarding Mann's post. "Those reports went late into the night and have continued in high volume this morning," Hansel said.

According to the Talawanda School District’s policy manual, teachers “may not campaign on school property during work hours on behalf of any political candidate for local, State, or National Office.” However, the policy goes on to state that “The constitutional right to express political and other opinions as citizens is reserved to all employees.”

The district also has an official freedom of speech in non-instructional settings policy for professional staff. According to that policy, professional staff members should avoid expressions that create conflict with the district’s interest. To meet that standard, the policy outlines four guidelines. Staff should “state clearly that his/her expression represents personal views and not necessarily those of the School District,” “refrain from expressions that would disrupt harmony among co-workers or interfere with the maintenance of discipline by school officials,” “not make threats or abusive or personally defamatory comments about co-workers, administrators, or officials of the District,” and “refrain from making public expressions which s/he knows to be false or are made without regard for truth or accuracy.”

The anonymous person who reposted Mann’s video to Facebook questioned the ethics of posting the video in a classroom setting. “As a mom, I would be highly uncomfortable sending my son into her classroom,” the anonymous person wrote. One commenter referred to the video as fearmongering, and another who said she voted for Trump called the video scary for asking people to identify who they voted for.

Some commenters also defended Mann, writing that the video was filmed before her contracted hours. One person said the person who reposted the video should not have been “hiding behind ‘anonymous member.’”

The Oxford Free Press has reached out to Mann for comment.