A 1,500-page personnel file spanning four decades of complaints is now shadowing Diana Moore’s campaign for Orange County School Board District 3, with colleagues describing a teacher who made both students and fellow staff cry at school. Moore, a 66-year-old elementary school teacher who has worked at six schools since 1986, faces Susanne Peña in a November 3 runoff after the two topped a three-candidate primary in August.
The file, first detailed by Florida Politics and separately obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, documents a pattern that a principal once described as combative and aggressive. Complaints against Moore stretch back to 1992, when she received a directive for repeated tardiness, and continue through the most recent filings in spring 2025. The Sentinel reports Moore has been investigated repeatedly, suspended and reprimanded over the years, though she has had some punishments rescinded and says the criticism amounts to retaliation for her advocacy work.
Sand Lake Elementary Complaints Described as Most Recent Flashpoint
Orange County Public Schools conducted a months-long investigation into Moore’s conduct at Sand Lake Elementary in 2025, according to the Sentinel. A testing coordinator at the school wrote in a March 2025 complaint that the amount of time and energy expelled on this one combative and aggressive individual, Ms. Moore, is interfering with the operation of the school — and, per Florida Politics, added that as a mother, it is hard to stomach the thought of someone like her working with children.
Other staff members described similar friction. Kathleen Phillips said she received daily emails from Moore telling her how to do her job and complaining about colleagues, and said other teachers forwarded her copies of rude emails Moore had sent, according to the Sentinel. Katie Schwartz said Moore challenged her authority and argued with her in front of students, while a school media specialist described Moore as argumentative, confrontational and disrespectful to colleagues. A kindergarten teacher at the school said Moore derailed several planning meetings with unprofessional behavior, and the Sentinel reports Moore also texted a teacher on maternity leave several times about classroom issues, leaving that teacher feeling extremely stressed and helpless. The testing coordinator also said Moore made it difficult to pull students from her class for required assessments, describing the overall effect on campus tone and climate as indescribably negative.
Moore Defends Her Record and Points to Union Fight
Moore has pushed back forcefully against the file’s contents. In an email statement to Florida Politics, she emphasized that her state teaching certificate has never been suspended or revoked, adding that OCPS does not want me sitting on the Board because I ask questions they don’t want asked and answered. She told the Sentinel that her reputation as a good teacher is being tainted because she speaks up, and said her tone is one of confidence and experience rather than hostility…