conservatives parents say they were duped into voting for the DeSantis Educ purge in full swing

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/30/desantis-backed-education-purge-begins-after-school-board-takeovers-florida

DeSantis-Backed Education Purge Begins After School Board Takeovers in Florida
"The new playbook of total ideological control is in full swing," said one free expression advocate.

Despite outcry from parents, teachers, and students, newly elected right-wing school board members in Sarasota County, Florida on Tuesday became the latest allies of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to oust a school superintendent over the district's adherence to public health guidance during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dozens of community members gathered at a school board meeting in Sarasota County on Tuesday evening to support Brennan Asplen, the superintendent of schools since 2020, whose contract was the subject of the meeting.

The board met the same day new members, including Chair Bridget Ziegler, were sworn in. Ziegler, a co-founder of right-wing group Moms for Liberty, was one of two dozen school board candidates who received an endorsement from DeSantis during the midterm elections. The majority of those candidates, who received $1,000 contributions from the governor, won their elections.

At the meeting, members condemned Asplen "for not pushing back on the mask mandate" that was in place for three weeks in 2021 after the school board voted 3-2 in favor of the mandate, making Sarasota County the first in the state to defy DeSantis' law blocking Covid-19 mitigation measures.

On Tuesday the board ultimately voted 4-1 in favor of negotiating a separation agreement with Asplen, after another board member, Thomas Edwards, warned the move would be a "carbon copy" of a similar ouster in Berkeley County, South Carolina earlier this month.

Link to tweet