School Board members are ‘clout chasing’ when triggering state Board punishment, Board member says

A Florida Board of Education member said Wednesday that he views local School Board members who have defied state directives as “clout chasing.”

During a meeting in Fort Walton Beach, Board members again spent a chunk of time voicing displeasure with the Alachua County School Board’s behavior.

On the big screen at the meeting held at Northwest Florida State College, DOE officials displayed a Facebook comment from the Alachua Board’s Vice Chair Tina Certain following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and his memorial service Sunday in Arizona.

“I didn’t watch any of that Drump rally! I went to see an elder bcs the weight of it all — how a 31 yr old uneducated white boy has been glorified,” Certain wrote in a Facebook comment. “He has a organization bcs a millionaire gave him money & connections to start it. To see the feds & state elevate him angers me. It is heavy but I know I can stay home. Gotta fight despite being tired of it all.”

State board member Daniel Foganholi made known his view.

“If it’s a mistake, and a true mistake, we show grace. It’s not a mistake,” Foganholi said.

“I am convinced that this is what we call clout chasing. A lot of these Board members are no-names, have no name recognition, and if they do something to get the attention of the Commissioner, or the Governor, or the community, to get 500-plus complaints on saying something, then they get corrected, then all of the sudden, they’re on CNN being victim.”

During its last meeting in August, the Board voted to keep an eye on the Alachua Board for the coming school year to ensure that its members do not suppress the First Amendment rights of the public, something state officials claim happened.

Last month, the Alachua Board’s Chair, Sarah Rockwell, was criticized by state Board members following her posting to Facebook about the death of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Now, state Board members expressed to Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas that they are ready to take action against the county Board. State Board member MaryLynn Magar said the Alachua Board is “baiting” and “trying to get a reaction out of us.”

“If you want a reaction out of this Board, I can tell you, you’ll probably get it,” Magar said.

State Board member Esther Byrd said she is “out of words.” “This isn’t workable, it just can’t continue like this.”

“They know what they’re doing. These board members know what they’re doing,” Foganholi said. “All of the sudden, I’m a victim on the evening news, and then all of the sudden you’ll see next year somebody’s running for higher office, I got it.”

Foganholi referenced two incidents in the state. In Leon County, a member of its Board criticized Kamoutsas for sending out a letter warning against commenting negatively about Kirk’s death and went on to call Kirk “a racist, misogynist, homophobic Klansman.” In Palm Beach County, Board member Edwin Ferguson, during a meeting, called Kirk a “racist bigot.”

“I’m not convinced it’s a mistake, now it’s about clout chasing,” Foganholi said during the Alachua discussion.

Earlier this month, Hillsborough County School Board member Jessica Vaughn suggested she could run for governor if she is removed from that board for battling with the state over removing books from libraries considered sexually explicit.

“Got Board members running for Senator, Governor — we see it. So I don’t think it’s an accident,” Foganholi said.

Foganholi previously served as a two-time Gov. Ron DeSantis-appointee to the Broward County School Board. He ran for election to stay on the Board, but lost. Days after his unsuccessful bid for the Broward board, DeSantis again appointed him, this time to the State Board of Education.

U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, a Republican from Gainesville, criticized Certain’s social media comment.

“Instead of prioritizing our children, the @AlachuaSchool board members seem to be teaching a master class in hate,” Cammack posted to X on Tuesday.

“@TinaCert, you have failed our children, you are promoting hate, and for that, you should resign immediately,” the representative concluded. 

WCJB reported that Certain rejected Cammack’s call to resign. In a statement provided to the TV station, Certain said Kirk’s “rhetoric was intended to demean through racism,” citing his previous comments about Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and political commentator Joy Reid.

Certain told the news station that “Charlie Kirk’s assassination was tragic and horrific, and my prayers are with his wife, his children, and all who loved him,” and “While my personal Facebook comment was poorly worded it does not change the reality of his rhetoric.”

Reactions to Kirk’s death have prompted a national discussion about freedom of speech and speech calling for violence.

“For me, it’s seeing that, and somebody that is a minority, somebody that has experienced racism, you replace that word right there, ‘White boy’ with ‘Brown boy or Black boy,’ it’s outrage. I don’t care if it’s reverse racism, racism is racism,” Foganholi said.

“I think we’ve had enough,” Board Chair Ryan Petty said of Certain’s Facebook comment, asking Kamoutsas to research how the state Board can take action against the Alachua County School Board member.

The state also sent a letter to Alachua County on Tuesday, informing them they are out of compliance in not reporting School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting data, the department said. Alachua County is the only district in the state that has not submitted the data, Kamoutsas said.

“It”s one thing though to run a sloppy and dysfunctional board meeting, it’s quite another to violate state law,” Petty said. “And that SESIR data as the board in Alachua should be aware, is critical to understanding whether or not there are school safety issues in the county.”

The district had three days from the sending of the letter to respond to the state. If not, Petty said he will call a special board meeting.

___

Jay Waagmeester reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].

Post Views: 0