Disclaimer: This article my contain the viewpoint and opinion of the author.
Florida’s primaries concluded this past Tuesday, the 23rd of August. The state handles school board races differently than any other elected positions and their election was Tuesday. Twenty-one of the thirty races up for election were run by Republican school boards.
Throughout the Pandemic, Sarasota County had defied the Governor by continuing a mask mandate in schools last year. Tuesday three positions were up for election on the board. The three winners were all back by DeSantis.
Conservative candidates also saw success in Miami-Dade County, where another board had kept mask requirements for schools in place. In another race, a brand new DeSantis-backed candidate defeated a twenty-four-year board member.
“Freedom is on the line this November — and our bold agenda for parental rights in education, safe communities, a vibrant economy, and a protected environment is vital to keeping the state of Florida free,” DeSantis said in a statement released by his reelection campaign.
DeSantis believes schools should provide the best education possible and not indoctrination. He didn’t stop his quest at elections. On Friday, he suspended four female members of the Broward County School Board and replaced them with four men.
Broward County is one of Florida’s largest Democratic voter bases and also the home to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The school was the scene of a tragic school shooting that led to 17 students and staffers being shot and killed in 2018.
The shooting led to Governor DeSantis convening a grand jury to investigate the school board’s response to the shooting. According to the Miami Herald, “the grand jury report, completed in April and released last Friday, cited the “incompetent management” of the board members.
The grand jury’s investigation discovered Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie lied under oath over the cost overruns of a $1 billion school-safety program. Included in the misuse of funds are bid-tempering and payoffs. Runcie was also accused of underreporting bullying, vandalism, and assaults.
Instead of firing Runcie, the school board reached an agreement with him and awarded him a $750,000 cash settlement. Barbara Myrick, the school board’s attorney was also arrested. She was charged with disclosing the Grand Jury details.
Governor DeSantis was not going to stand for this. “It is my duty to suspend people from office when there is clear evidence of incompetence, neglect of duty, misfeasance or malfeasance,” DeSantis said in a press release.
The suspended board members are arguing it is a politically motivated move by DeSantis to increase Republican control of the classroom. Parents of the victims murdered in the Parkland shooting disagree.
Lori Alhadeff, mother of 14-year-old victim Alyssa wrote, “Thank you to Governor DeSantis for your swift action that holds school board members accountable based on the findings of the Grand Jury Report,” said Alhadeff. She won reelection on Tuesday with 61 percent of the vote.
Governor DeSantis is one of the few state leaders across the nation that are willing to take on the fight for the education of our children. Unfortunately, education has become indoctrination and it’s costing people their lives.
Runcie, whose trial is still pending, has been appointed the chair of a nationwide program to oversee school security for six schools across the country.
The organization’s new initiative, led by Runcie, is a “School Safety Cohort.” Six school districts pay $166,667 each to a company, formed last year by two Broward School Administrators, to review safety plans and track compliance.
These school districts get reimbursed by Chiefs for Change, which is a non-profit organization funded by private donors including Jeb Bush. As you can see, the political connections always come back to career politicians who are entrenched in their positions for doing the very thing they have always done, nothing.
