Katherine O’Connell, the principal who opened the new Trout Creek Academy in northwest St. Johns County, is taking her own district to court, claiming she was pushed out over a rap lyric in the yearbook while a pattern of classroom violence went unchecked.
In a 32-page petition filed June 16 in the Seventh Judicial Circuit, O’Connell asks judges to issue extraordinary writs that would block the St. Johns County School Board’s actions against her and restore what she says is her right to a formal hearing. She told reporters she was summoned to human resources the same week she was dealing with a classroom incident that she says left a kindergartener life-flown to a hospital.
According to News4JAX, the petition seeks a writ of mandamus and a writ of prohibition and contends O’Connell was suspended and told her contract would not be renewed without basic due process. The filing says the district’s attorney told O’Connell’s counsel that the yearbook quote was “the last straw” in a broader set of complaints. Her attorney, Jack Webb, told the station the incident included a student who was stabbed in the neck with a pencil and later had to be life-flown, and that requests to move that student to the Evelyn Hamblen Center were denied.
The controversy began when a line from Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen,” reading “Everybody hating, we just call them fans though,” appeared beneath O’Connell’s name on the yearbook’s opening page, drawing complaints and national attention, as reported by Action News Jax. The district placed O’Connell on paid administrative leave beginning May 20 and later moved toward non-reappointment for the 2026–27 school year. At a June 9 board meeting she described herself as “a 26-year dedicated, defamed, destroyed educator” and asked for a formal hearing.
Stabbings, fires and a police report alleged
O’Connell’s petition says the safety concerns at Trout Creek went far beyond a yearbook page. The filing alleges one student stabbed others roughly six times over the school year, engaged in repeated violence toward teachers and even set fires at home, according to News4JAX. The suit also states a teacher filed a police report and that the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office major crimes unit was involved.
The Sheriff’s Office told reporters it responded to a May 13 classroom altercation in which “one student struck another student with a pencil, causing a wound that appeared superficial.”
What the lawsuit is asking for
The petition asks the circuit court to force the board to follow required procedures and to bar any final personnel action until O’Connell receives a hearing. In Florida, petitions for writs such as mandamus and prohibition are the extraordinary remedies used to compel public bodies to perform ministerial duties or to stop an unauthorized action, and the state’s statutes lay out the procedures for prohibition and related writs.
Trout Creek Academy is a K–8 campus in the Shearwater community that serves roughly 1,500 students, according to the school’s website, and the coming court decision will determine whether the board’s personnel move can proceed while litigation continues.
The district has declined to discuss pending litigation beyond a brief statement that the facts will emerge during the legal process. O’Connell’s contract is due to expire June 30 and the district has asked her to submit a retirement or resignation letter by June 25, according to the petition. Both sides now await a judge’s decision on the writs and on whether the board can finalize its personnel action while the lawsuit is pending.
