Florida mom alleges teacher gave son 'most likely to become dictator' certificate over conservative views

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA: A Florida mom says her kids were punished in school for her politics, including one son being branded “Most Likely to Become a Dictator" by his own teacher.

Crystal Marull, a mother of two in Alachua County, raised the alarm this week, accusing her children’s schools of targeting them over her conservative stance on book bans.

Crystal Marull claims schools targeted her children

The embattled mom voiced her concerns at a local meeting. “My son, 6 years old, was prohibited from sitting next to his friend on the school bus because a parent objected to my perspectives on book challenges,” Crystal Marull told officials.

Things escalated further in her older son’s history class. “My older son’s history teacher let students label him a ‘Naziphile’ simply for his interest in history and participation in ROTC,” she said.

“She later nominated my son as the ‘Most Liked to Become a Dictator’ and had his classmates vote on it and try to force him to the front of the class to receive the certificate, which he rightly refused, all because of his conservative values and our perspectives.”

Marull is no stranger to sparring with her district. For years, she has led the charge against what she calls “woke books” in school libraries. On August 19, she doubled down on X (formerly Twitter), warning parents to open their eyes.

“School libraries are not a safe space. There are so many dark forces afoot, parents need to wake up,” she wrote. “The groomers and pedophiles have infiltrated the school libraries! The ‘banned book’ arguments are all just a cover for their dark purposes."

Alachua County faces major backlash

Marull’s story sparked outrage on social media, with supporters demanding accountability.

"Fire the teacher. Fire the Principal. Fire the school board. Fire the Superintendent. This behavior comes from the top down," one user posted on X.

"It's not enough for the teacher to be fired, though that's a start. The teacher and Alachua School District should be sued for the intentional emotional distress of both boys," another insisted.

"I cannot believe that a woman/teacher could be so cruel. It’s absolutely sickening. Pure evil. God knows how many others she has abused over the years. Please investigate this pig & sue her & the school district. I know that won’t heal the poor little boy but this needs to stop!" one comment read.

"So many teachers are such deranged activists. Homeschooling has never looked so good," another wrote.

"Imagine if it was the opposite, 'student most likely to turn gay' award given to the effeminate kid. The school officials would rightly be IN THE F*****G WRONG. If you wanna know if something is wrong, just change it around and see if it still sounds good. FIRE THEM!" another fumed.

Crystal Marull clashed with schools over gender identity book

This wasn’t Marull’s first showdown with Alachua County schools. Last year, she clashed with the board over a gender identity book on the shelves at Terwilliger Elementary.

'It Feels Good to Be Yourself' by Theresa Thorn introduces kids to concepts like gender identity and sexual orientation in age-appropriate terms. One line reads, “You might feel like a boy. You might feel like a girl. You might feel like both boy and girl — or like neither. You might feel like your gender changes from day to day or year to year.”

Marull pushed back. “The material is not suited to the students’ needs and their ability to comprehend material," she argued at a February 2024 hearing. "The material is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which it is used.”

Florida law restricts classroom teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity, but school officials maintained the book wasn’t being used for instruction. District staff attorney Susan Seigle testified that it was not part of any reading list and had never been read aloud in the library.

The following month, Superintendent Shane Andrew upheld the board’s decision to keep the book in the elementary library, recommending it remain available.

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