DeSantis Endorsed School Boards Continue to Wreak Havoc

It appears that school boards across Florida are trying to cause more mayhem than the bills being passed by Florida Legislature or the indictment of the former president. Spoiler Alert: these boards contain many DeSantis and/or Moms For Liberty endorsed members.

Flagler:

On Tuesday, 4/4/23, after hearing public comments which overwhelmingly supported retaining Superintendent Cathy Middelstadt, the board voted 3-2 to not renew her contract. Two of the three votes came from members  Christy Chong and Will Furry, both of whom had been endorsed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during last year’s school board election. The 3rd vote came from Sally Hunt, also new to the board, who took office in November 22 after defeating former incumbent, Jill Woolbright, in August. Woolbright had also been a DeSantis endorsee.

Board Chair, Cheryl Massaro, and member Colleen Conklin, both praised  Superintendent Middelstadt and voted against her ouster. Massaro called the vote “100% political.”

Massaro said:

“Was it politically motivated? I believe it was. I believe that our members involved are highly activated, especially with the support of the governor. This could be a very dangerous direction that’s being taken by the new school board members. Now with the vote of last night by our school board, I’m extremely concerned of what direction the school board is going to be going in.”

Mittelstadt was hired as Flagler’s superintendent in 2020 and her contract was set to expire at the end of June. Both Conklin and Massaro have announced they will not be running for re-election in 2024.

The Flagler board will meet April 18th for a workshop to discuss selecting a new superintendent.

Brevard:

A little over an hour south of Flagler, in Brevard County, the school board has let go another superintendent – the second one in less than 5 months.

In November 2022, two new Moms For Liberty aligned Brevard School Board members were sworn in and promptly fired their superintendent on a 3-2 vote. Late last month, after receiving a 12 page email from their interim superintendent, Robert Schiller, which criticized the board’s search process for a permanent superintendent, the board placed him on leave.

The 12 page email was briefly posted online and then removed. According to Florida Today, who had access to the email, “Schiller lambasted the board’s ‘absurd’ timeline for the selection of its new permanent superintendent and blamed the board for its own problems attracting candidates.” Schiller wrote “The immaturity of the Board despite being in office for 3 months is astounding. They don’t know or do not want to learn what they don’t know.”

As reported:

“Schiller called the issues faced by BPS “manifold, multi-layered and interrelated.

“A quick political solution for complex problems is no way to look at a complex, 1.5-billion-dollar organization,” he wrote. “What board member has any experience leading such an organization?”

He blamed the board’s “lack of preparation” at meetings, failure to abide its own guidelines and legal policies, “torn relationships” and “horrendous videos of Board meetings” in part for a lack of candidates in the superintendent search, which on Tuesday (3/28/23) had drawn just 11 applicants, according to the BPS website. The window for new applications closes Friday (3/31/23).

The list of the current 11 candidates can be seen here. In the meantime, long-time Assistant Superintendent Sue Hann will serve as the new board’s 3rd superintendent since November 22, 2023.

Sarasota:

On the west side of the state, Sarasota’s School Board has been nothing but mayhem since Moms For Liberty Founder Bridget Ziegler assumed the role of Chair in November ’22. Ziegler’s re-election, along with the election of fellow conservatives Robyn Marinelli and Tim Enos, secured a 4-1 conservative majority on the board. Ziegler, Marinelli and Enos were all DeSantis and GOP endorsed candidates and they have wasted no time enacting DeSantis’ political agenda.

The lone liberal, Tom Edwards, is one of fourteen school board members in Florida already targeted by DeSantis for the 2024 election cycle, apparently for failing “protect parental rights or protect students from ‘woke’ ideologies.” Since the DeSantis announcement, Edwards (who is openly gay) has had to endure targeted homophobic public comments, from speakers aligned with Moms For Liberty, during board meetings. During the March 22 meeting, Edwards walked out during public comment when Chair Ziegler, for the second meeting in a row, failed to rein in the targeted attacks.

The latest disruption in Sarasota, however, comes from Hillsdale College, a small conservative Christian College in Michigan. During a March 21st workshop, Ziegler noted that since she was appointed chair, Sarasota “has become known for its fiery meetings, board bickering, and politically-charged public feuds.” (Duh!) Ziegler said her reign as chair has “been distraction after distraction and I don’t want to continue that.” Her solution? Hire a board consultant, specifically a company called Vermilion Education. Discussion of Vermillion was scheduled for an April 4th workshop.

Vermillion’s website (vermillioneducation.com) says “Vermilion Education was founded to help school boards make American public education the envy of the world once again.” It’s work is describe as “Vermilion Education helps school boards ensure an accurate and high-quality education for their students.”

It turns out Vermillion is a brand new company (3 months old) closely tied to Hillsdale College. Edu-blogger Peter Greene tells the whole story in a piece titled “FL: Is Hillsdale Coming For Sarasota Schools.” The brief version is Vermillion appears to be one guy, Jordan Adams, a 2013 Hillsdale College grad:

• Hillsdale College is private, right wing Christian College, led by Larry Arnn. He led Trump’s 1776 Commission, an effort to combat CRT, and refute the 1619 Project, with “patriotic education.”
• Hillsdale College is closely aligned with both DeSantis and former Commissioner of Education, Richard Corcoran. It was at Hillsdale College where Corcoran announce “the war will be won in education.“
• DeSantis has placed Corcoran in charge of a takeover of Florida’s New College” and has vowed to make it the “Hillsdale of the South.”
• It was a lecture at Hillsdale where Christopher Rufo equated Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as euphemisms for CRT and an attack on the basic principles of America. He called on citizens to “lay siege” to American institutions, like public schools, which he advocates privatizing. Rufo has been appointed to the New College Board, along with Matthew Spalding, a Hillsdale College professor.
• Hillsdale has helped launch classical charter schools throughout the country via their Barney Charter School Initiative. You may have read, recently, about the Tallahassee Classical School who made news after a few parents complained their middle school students were exposed to Michelangelo’s David without prior parental notification. Tallahasse Classical began as a Hillsdale charter.
• Jordan Adams, who heads Vermillion, is a Hillsdale grad who, until recently, was interim director of curriculum for the Hillsdale College K-12 Education Office. Adams was brought in to Florida by the Department of Education to search out Critical Race Theory hidden in Florida’s math textbooks.
• After suggesting her board hire Vermillion, WTXL reporter Katie Lagrone asked Ziegler how exactly she heard of Vermillion. Ziegler vaguely responded she “works in education circles” and “certainly it was brought to my attention.” 

Prior to the April 4th workshop to discuss Vermillion, approximately 100 community members, from groups such as the League of Women Voters and Save Our Schools, gathered for a demonstration, opposing the Vermillion contract.

The board heard over 3 hours of public comment, with more than 80 speakers, all but a handful speaking against Vermillion. You can read about the rally and the public comments on Herald Tribune reporter, Steven Walker’s Twitter thread. Without explanation, the Vermillion vote was postponed until the April 28th board meeting.

Today, on Twitter, Ziegler announced:

 

Since September 2022, Ziegler’s “day job” has been Director of School Board Programs at the Leadership Institute. The Leadership Institute trains conservatives to “reclaim” their schools by taking over local school boards through campaigns focused on opposition to critical race theory. Their funders include a who’s who of deep-pocketed right wing foundations, like the Koch brothers and the Bradley Foundation.

Both Ziegler and her husband Christian (who is now Chairman of the Florida Republican Party) attended the strategy session with Governor DeSantis, Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. and House Speaker Paul Renner, which resulted in Tom Edwards, and 13 others, being placed on DeSantis’ 2024 School Board Target list.

On April 21st and 22nd in Sarasota, the LeadershipInstitute is hosting their first “Learn Right: Education Leaders Summit,” where they intended to train conservatives to “reclaim” their board. Ziegler will be a speaker along with Florida’s Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, interim president of New College’s right wing takeover Richard Corcoran, co-founder of Moms For Liberty Tina Descovich, and others.

There are a lot of far right shenanigans going on in Sarasota… I suspect hiring a brand new conservative consulting firm will do little to quell the disruption there.

This is a difficult time for public schools in Florida. I am grateful for the students, parents and community members who are taking time to attend their local school board meetings and speak out in defense of educators and public schools. Please get involved in the issues affecting your local schools.