At the Aug. 26 Orange County School Board meeting, Clinton McCracken, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, criticized a district email that he said pressured teachers to move from individual classroom autonomy to group‑level instruction and said the district’s use of a screenshot from a private CTA members‑only Facebook group undermined trust.

“I encourage school board members to go talk to teachers and ask them if they're being pressured to give up their rights,” McCracken told the board. He cited the principle that teachers have statutory and contractual protections — “Florida's teachers bill of rights says, ‘A teacher has the right to control and direct classroom instruction without interference,’” and he added that similar protections appear in the district contract: “Teachers shall have discretion in determining the methods of instruction they employ, consistent with adopted curriculum and student needs.”

McCracken said hundreds of teachers contacted him within 24 hours of the district email expressing anger and concern that collaboration was being framed as mandatory. He said the screenshot of a private CTA post that circulated to thousands of district teachers was taken from a members‑only space intended to be confidential: “That trust was broken,” he said, adding that “fear silences teachers.”

Ron Pollard, president of the Orange Education Support Professional Association, used his allotted public comment to urge the board to recognize classified support staff and to push back on remarks he characterized as disparaging toward custodians, clerical workers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff and transportation employees. Pollard said support staff are “the heartbeat of the community” and said it was “disappointing to hear our employers seemingly dismiss our staff.”

Board members did not take formal action during public comment. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Armbruster and other administrators were present earlier in the meeting and later addressed operational items; the meeting record shows no vote or policy change on teacher autonomy or social‑media use during the Aug. 26 session. McCracken urged board members to prioritize respectful collaboration that starts with protecting teacher rights and contractual terms.

This account reports remarks made by named speakers during the public‑comment portion of the meeting; no district statement adopting or rejecting the complaints was made on the record at that time.