Sarasota and Brevard Push The Limits Of How Much Disruption A School District Can Tolerate

Last week, “M4L-endorsed and DeSantis backed School Board Members Immediately Wreak Havoc” highlighted the immediate impacts of the 2022 elections on a several of Florida’s School Boards. Not surprising, ALOT of mayhem has occurred since it was published. Sarasota and Brevard appear to be competing for the most disruption a new school board can create and their communities are not pleased.

sarasota

Sarasota’s new 4-1 conservative majority consists of the politically-connected incumbent and one of the original founders of Mons For Liberty, Bridget Ziegler, first elected to the board in 2014 and elected Chair of the new board on 11/22/22. She was re-elected this summer, along with newly elected conservatives Robyn Marinelli and Tim Enos. The trio were referred to as “ZEM” by their supporters and were endorsed by the Republican Party of Sarasota County and Governor DeSantis, who came to Sarasota two days before their election to rally Republicans to flip the School Board. They join incumbent Karen Rose, elected in 2020, to create a solid conservative majority. Rose was elected Vice Chair of the new board and then, almost immediately, called for the dismissal of current superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen. A follow up board meeting was scheduled for 11/29/22 to discuss his ouster.

The antics of the new Sarasota School Board are getting national press.

“Welcome to DeSantis World, as manifested on Tuesday night by a local Florida school board with a new conservative majority whose first major action placed politics before kids—even as it declared there is no place for politics in the classroom.”

“The politicians of DeSantis World got what they wanted. And the big losers were the kids.” – “Ouster Exposes DeSantis’ ‘Politics-Free’ Schools Hypocrisy” – thedailybeast.com

WUSF Public Media highlighted the events of the contensious November 29th  meeting (read the entire article here):

“The Sarasota County School Board voted 4-1 Tuesday night (11/29/22) to negotiate a severance package with the district superintendent, seeking his resignation rather than firing him outright.

“During public comment, more than 50 speakers urged the board to keep Asplen.

“Dr. Asplen, you have done a heroic job, leading during two extremely difficult years with a pandemic, hurricanes and storms of a different kind, partisan politics and extremism taking hold of Sarasota County Schools,” said Elizabeth Bornstein, one of the speakers.”

Asplen proceeded to fight back:

“I spend more time on politics and nonsense than anything else. I can’t even spend time on a lot of the instructional (elements) because we’re dealing with this kind of nonsense. I don’t know why we’re here. Because I thought I was doing fine.”

Tom Edwards was the only one to vote in support of Asplen, saying his vote was on behalf of the students:

“What we’re doing here tonight, the chaos that this board brought needlessly, is to create chaos in public education, so that they can advance charter schools for profit,” said Edwards.”

After the almost 5 hour meeting, including public comments from citizens mostly in support of Asplen, followed by the Board’s vote to remove him, the local press joined in expressing outrage.

Local political writer and WSLR radio host of “The Detail,” Cathy Antunes, devoted an entire hour to the meeting which she said has “rocked our community.” Her guest was former school board candidate, Justin Willis, a Republic who lost a 2018 campaign for School Board and had personally testified at the meeting that he had “buyer’s remorse” for voting for the conservative slate of School Board candidates. He told Cathy, “We voted for change but we didn’t vote for changing the superintendent.” You can listen to the entire radio program here, it includes audio clips from the meeting as well as commentary as to the public’s reaction.

The Sarasota Magazine highlighted the crowd’s reaction to the Board’s antics:

“Last night’s almost-five-hour meeting was rife with the theatrics that have repeatedly fetched national media attention. There were chants, applause, guffaws, personal callouts and interruptions that had to be quelled. The crowds audibly laughed when Rose said that “politics has no place on our board.” …

Most speakers, including former and present county teachers and students, said they believed the decision would sow chaos and instability, and that it would degrade the public school system and open a pathway toward greater school privatization.”  – Sarasota Magazine

Local Herald-Tribune columnist Carrie Sideman wrote an open letter thanking Asplen for his service and suggesting his ouster was a done deal the minute the election results were finalized:

“To me it was the predictable finale of a well-orchestrated board takeover, which has been replicated in several other counties where Gov. Ron DeSantis also endorsed board candidates. That your accusers offered only the most feeble of rationales for their action simply underscored that this wasn’t ever about you, personally or professionally. While your defenders immediately pounced on the probable violation of Florida’s Sunshine Law by the conservative majority in coordinating the coup outside the public arena, it’s likely the ink on your pink slip was dry as soon as the election results came in.

I, along with hundreds of other outraged community members, attended the recent meeting that resulted in what will undoubtedly be your departure. I hope the prolonged standing ovation that greeted your entrance into the board room and the eloquent comments from dozens of residents who spoke in gratitude for your service were some small comfort to you and your family.“ – Herald Tribune 12/2/22

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune Editorial Board called the rush to fire Asplen “an outrage,” saying the move showed the new board’s “contempt for openness, fairness and common sense.”

“By all objective measures, Asplen shouldn’t be a superintendent fighting to save his job. And if the newly formed School Board is so dead-set on taking that job away from Asplen, it owes the community far more compelling reasons than the dubious ones – satisfying political agendas and settling old scores – that now seem to be driving its obsession to remove him.

Let’s be clear: the more you examine the School Board majority’s desire to oust and humiliate Asplen, the less it makes sense from any conceivable angle.” – Herald Tribune 12/27/22

Perhaps the most scathing review came from Matt Walsh, CEO of the Observer Media Group, who personally penned an editorial in Sarasota’s “Your Observer” titled: “The School Board Blew It.” His conclusion was:

“Of this we are sure: The four Republican school board members who will vote Dec. 2 to part officially with Superintendent Asplen will have much to do hereafter to prove they will not diminish or destroy what has been for more than three decades one of the best school districts in Florida and one of this community’s best assets.” – Your Observer 12/1/22

Walsh spent a significant amount of time pointing out the failures of the board majority and their chair, Ms. Ziegler:

“From start to finish, it was a disaster.

If you attended or watched as an observer all five hours of Tuesday night’s special Sarasota County School Board meeting, by the time the board reached its climax (e.g. figuring out the meaning on what it was voting), your conclusion likely went something like this: Those people don’t know how to be an effective board or how to be board members.

If this is what to expect from the new board, the school district, teachers, students, parents and taxpayers are headed for trouble. There is no way you could walk away from that fiasco feeling confident that success is in the future.” – Your Observer 12/1/22

Walsh went on to highlight Ziegler’s complete failure to demonstrate appropriate leadership which he summarizes as saying “She blew it.”

Of note, neither “ZEM” nor Rose attended the recent Florida School Boards Association’s Chairmanship Academy or New School Board Member trainings.

I believe it bears pointing out that Bridget Ziegler’s actual “day job” is as staff, faculty and Director of School Board Programs at The Leadership Institute, which believes that “Conservative leadership will restore American education.” She literally is paid to train conservatives to be school board members. Yikes.

brevard

Across the state in Brevard, where last week their new Moms For Liberty and DeSantis endorsed board majority moved to both fired their superintendent and eliminate transgender students’ civil rights, new board Chair Matt Susin has raised the disruption to a Spinal Tap level of 11.

Since their first meeting on 11/22/22, Susin has been busy scheduling special board meetings and attending press conferences. On Monday, November 28th, Susin appeared in a Facebook event alongside Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, standing in front of a local jail. Really you should watch it…

Ivey announced a ‘brand new day’ for discipline at Brevard schools, promising immediate change:

“So starting right now things are gonna change as we are all partnered together to send a resounding message, that if you can’t behave in our classrooms you won’t be in our classrooms…”

“If you’re a little snot that’s coming to our classes to be disruptive, you might want to find some place else to go to school because we’re going to be your worst nightmare starting right now” – Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, 11/28/22

Sheriff Ivey said the problem with kids today is:

“Quite frankly, they’re not worried about getting in trouble. They know nothing’s gonna happen to them. They know they’re not going to be given after school detention, they’re not going to be suspended. They’re not going to be expelled or like in the old days they’re not gonna have the cheeks of their ass torn off for not doing right in class.” – Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, 11/28/22

Susin, who voted to approve the District’s current student code of conduct in February 2022, announced the board will sit down with the unions and state attorney at an emergency meeting next week to create the “most prolific policy the school district’s ever had.” That meeting, technically a “Special Board meeting,” is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th at 9am. The agenda includes discussions of

• Brevard Public Schools Discipline Policies and Procedures
• Brevard Public Schools Book Review Committee (presumably to review and discuss the current committee membership and the give directions for upcoming book challenges)
• Implementation and Payout Schedule of Salary Agreement Between Brevard Public Schools and Brevard Federation of Teachers
• Policy 0169.1 – Public Participation at Board Meetings

This is all in addition to the upcoming Special Meeting (scheduled for Monday, December 5th at 9am) to discuss a “Mutual Separation Agreement” with Superintendent Mullins, who agreed to step down at the 11/22/22 meeting.

Unlike Sarasota, where their superintendent was hired from out of county just over a year ago, Brevard’s superintendent, Dr. Mullins, has worked in the Brevard Public Schools for almost 30 years. He, too, is well liked throughout the district and the community. Earlier today, it was announced that Mullins would resign as superintendent on Dec. 31, pending tomorrow’s board approval of the separation agreement, negotiated between him and Susin.

There appears to be further exodus from the district. As reported by Florida Today, two high-ranking Brevard Public Schools officials announced their retirements in a joint statement on Friday, December 2nd. Deputy Superintendent and HR chief, Dr. Beth Thedy, and Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, Christine Moore, both with more than 30 years with the district, will retire in late January 2023.

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Local communities are understandably outraged. These disruptive maneuvers may lead to significant damage to local schools. Were the voters hoodwinked? Everyone who truly cares about the future of public schools should be paying attention and planning to speak out and stand up – in a respectful, constructive, meaningful and civil manner – against the furthering of these disruptive political agendas which are causing harm to our schools.