Tom Edwards, a school board member from Sarasota County, recently spoke to Mother Jones about the state of public education in Florida.[0] Edwards, a self-described moderate, was elected for a four-year school board seat in 2020 and ran on a platform to safely reopen schools and opposed school-choice measures.
Edwards claims Governor Ron DeSantis has “hit-listed” those who do not “agree with his attempts to turn back the clock on public school education”.[0] Edwards also expressed appreciation for the opportunity “to be an upstander” and said he “will never step away from what [he] believes is the right thing to do for Sarasota County’s students, teachers, parents, and citizens.”[1]
On DeSantis’s approach, Edwards said “Frankly, it’s nothing more than bullying.”[0] He specifically noted that DeSantis has taken similar approaches to Disney, New College, students wearing masks in his presence, and LGBTQ+ students. Edwards then asked, “Why is it that he needs to feel that he has to silence me too? And what does that say to the country if he becomes president?”
Edwards’s comments come in the wake of DeSantis’s appointment of six new trustees at New College of Florida in January and the subsequent removal of the school’s president, Patricia Okker, as part of what Okker called a “hostile takeover.”[2] The new board is also considering proposals to abolish DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) offices and end mandatory diversity training, mandatory diversity statements, and identity-based preferences; and backing Florida HB 999, which would ban college spending on DEI.[2]
In response to this, Edwards said, “If ‘woke’ means fostering critical thinking, if woke means creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students, then I wear it as a badge of honor.” He went on to say, “If woke means developing programs that enhance the educational outcomes of our students and benefit my community, if woke means fostering critical thinking, if woke means creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students, then I wear it as a badge of honor.
0. “School board member compares DeSantis policies to ‘Germany’: He ‘hit-listed’ ‘woke’ school board members” Fox News, 9 Mar. 2023, https://www.foxnews.com/media/school-board-member-compares-desantis-policies-germany-hit-listed-woke-school-board-members
1. “A Florida School Board Member Speaks Out About Being Targeted by DeSantis – Mother Jones” Mother Jones, 7 Mar. 2023, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/03/a-florida-school-board-member-speaks-out-about-being-targeted-by-desantis/
2. “New College of Florida Removed from Campus Pride Index of LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges and Universities” EIN News, 8 Mar. 2023, https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/620821110/new-college-of-florida-removed-from-campus-pride-index-of-lgbtq-friendly-colleges-and-universities
