Former Brevard Public Schools teacher Melissa Calhoun has been a teacher for more than a decade. While she still retains her teaching license, she is no longer in the classroom.

"This is the first time in my life since I was like 4 years old that I haven’t done the first day of school," Calhoun said.

Her contract was not renewed for this school year by the district. This comes after she used a student’s preferred name, which violates a state statute that restricts name and pronoun usage unless a student has parental permission.

"The student is one of my former students from years prior — before the law came into effect," Calhoun said. "Frankly, I overlooked the policy."

WESH 2 first reported this in April when the issue was brought to the district and later to the Florida Education Pra

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