DeSantis' schools: School board chair and sheriff announce discipline policy from in front of a jail

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday December 01, 2022 · 9:41 AM PST

2022/12/01 · 09:41

On Nov. 22, in Florida, newly elected Brevard County School Board members Gene Trent and Megan Wright, aided by current board member Matt Susin, successfully took control over the direction of the school system's trajectory. They were able to oust Superintendent Mark Mullins as well as push through a new anti-trans requirement of segregating bathrooms and locker rooms by biological sex.

The latter move was an abject discriminatory act on the part of the new conservative-controlled school board. Last month, the State Board of Education passed a new rule requiring that districts “notify parents if they have any policies or procedure allowing transgender students to use facilities consistent with their gender identities,” and instead of seconding that new rule, the board chose to do away with the choice to protect its marginalized children entirely. This was one of the first concrete results for the upcoming school year, as directed by the bigotry of anti-trans legislation under Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Just a few days later, the new School Board Chairman, Matt Susin, stood alongside Sheriff Wayne Ivey, State Attorney Phil Archer, and a union rep for school staff, Dolores Varney, in front of the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes to tell everyone, on camera, that they would be imposing the “most prolific school discipline policy this district has ever had.” In front of a jail.

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The statements made were vague and threatening and really offered up zero concrete ideas on how anything they were going to do would be beneficial to education in Florida’s Brevard County. Sheriff Ivey, probably the most excited person on Earth about this announcement, couldn’t control himself, saying that the big problem in schools today is that kids aren’t as terrified for their well-being like Sheriff Ivey would like them to be.

“They know nothing is going to 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 going to have the cheeks of their ass torn off for not doing right in class.”

Ivey went on to say this would also stop school shooters. As we have seen with places like Uvalde, Texas, Sheriff Ivey is basing this assertion on the fallacious cruelty of self-interest. Sheriff Ivey and Chairman Susin decided to hold this “announcement” without inviting any media and therefore creating a classic Trump-DeSantis-style proclamation with no pushback from people asking simple questions like, “Why the fuck are you making a statement about education from in front of a jail and why is it mostly being delivered by a law enforcement person?”

They didn’t offer up any answers to local news outlets who sent them questions concerning the vague new policy either.

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The Republican Party continues to flail and point fingers at one another. The traditional media pretends it did not completely blow it on predicting a “red wave” a few weeks ago. On today’s episode, Markos is joined by Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that these midterm races were closer than was being reported. The two do a little gloating about being right in their optimism coming into the 2022 midterm elections, give their analysis of Democratic candidates' successes, and point to signs that the Republican Party is terrified as we head into the 2024 election cycle.

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DeSantis' schools: School board chair and sheriff announce discipline policy from in front of a jail

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