Superintendent Greene deserves coal in her stocking

We have all heard the old saying, with friends like these, we don't need enemies. Well, superintendent Greene has repeatedly said she supports our LGBTQ students, but her actions speak a lot louder. With a  friend like her, the LGBTQ community definitely doesn't need any enemies.  

Over the summer, she had her district apparatchik scratch off rainbow stickers from classroom walls and doors, followed by district changing policies which now say teachers could no longer post items like safe place stickers and rainbow flags in their classrooms. Shortly thereafter, the district LGBTQ  support guide was gutted, and anti-bullying videos were taken down.

Recently the district ended an over twenty-year relationship with JASMYN, a local nonprofit that serves LGBTQ youth. She did so based on so-called media reports from far-right blogs known for spreading misinformation. She also did so without consulting the school board, and the less-than-compelling defense of her actions could be summed up by saying she said she did so because she could. 

Where all of that is indefensible, the worst thing she did was remain silent. As the superintendent, she has a pulpit she could use to inform and educate people, but time and time again, she has refused to do so. So when the "don't say gay" law was passed, she remained silent rather than speaking about its unnecessary and harmful consequences. 

Time and time again, the LGBTQ community was attacked, including by school members Carney and Joyce, and rather than stand up for and educate the public, Greene piled on, making things worse.

She can say she supports the LGBT community, but her actions speak otherwise.   

Joyce and Carney supporter Raymond Johnson call people pediohiles and groomers at the SB meeting and gets away with it.

Wouldn't it be nice if an SB member stood up to people who called teachers pedophiles and groomers and told them they were wrong and to go pound sand? Maybe the reason they don't is that it is their close supporters doing it. At the 2:06 mark of the SB meeting, noted bigot and homophobe Raymond Johnson spoke and said some horrible things. The SB just shrugged.

Some low lights are, he said, the new sex-ed curriculum promoted sodomy with minors, and JASMYN was a pedophile group that sexually grooms children. How his mic wasn't cut is beyond me.

Here is a little bit about the pro confederate flag and anti-HRO Raymond Johnson

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/search?q=Raymond+Johnson

Then earlier this year, Carney and Joyce proudly appeared with him

It seems to me that too many members of the SB would rather stand with him rather than with outstanding civic organizations like JASMYN. Though if their silence is any indication, maybe more than a few do believe our schools are filled with pedophiles and groomers.  

Greene's lackluster defence of her own actions

Greene took a sledgehammer to the district's 20-year relationship with JASMYN, the local group that provides services to the LGBTQ community. She did so without consulting the board or the community and instead citeing media reports. The media turned out to be a far-right blog known for publishing false and misleading pieces. Other than an email to principals, there has been a lot about her decision until the last school board meeting, when the defense of her indefensible actions could have been better, to say the least. 

Her presentation started at the 47-minute part, and she jumped right into it, pointing out that board policy gives her the power to approve or dismiss any contract under 75k, which the JASMYN contract was. In her speech, she doesn't mention the media reports. She just said she heard about it a few days after Thanksgiving, meaning her process took less than 48 hours.  

Sadly she seems to think that despite all her attacks on the LGBTQ community, refusing to speak out against the DSG bill, taking down anti-bullying videos and gutting the LGBTQ community, her words of support mean something.

She went on to speak about how as a constitutional officer, she is obligated to protect children. However, that obligation doesn't stretch to reporting unsafe behavior to the authorities.  

Following, she said children will be able to receive the same services they had been all along though that seems highly doubtful. She wants to speak to other organizations to see if they can pick up what the district is losing, something that maybe she should have done before listening to a far-right blog and then summarily ending a 20-year relationship.  

Basically, she said she saw something she didn't like and terminated the relationship because she could. 

I encourage you to listen to her remarks; just be prepared to be underwhelmed. 

Board meeting

The so called media Greene used to end a decades old partnership with JASMYN

 Greene reported to reports in the "media" as a reason she summarily ended the decades-long relationship with JASMYN, the local support agency for LGBTQ youth.  

On November 18th, two rags published stories about JASMYN, the Post Millennial, which seems more of a copy-and-publish piece, and the Florida Standard, both of which are known for publishing false and misleading pieces. I will concentrate on the Florida Standard and the author of their piece, Zac Howard.

Here are a couple of tweets from his Twitter page.

If you look at his Twitter page, Zac really seems preoccupied with the sexualization of children, which is probably more projection than reporting. Either way above is a lie.

They announced nothing close to this, but what do facts matter when you are part of the Media. 

Hillsborough county would disagree with the assertion; they want to keep grooming children, and on a side note, I missed Zac's election to the overlord of everything decent and right. Also, if Zac has any experience with what is developmentally appropriate for children, his resume is very light on it.

My only comment is gulp.

He is also okay with spreading covid misinformation.

Counselors, I wasn't at the training. Were any of you trained to tell kids to lie to their parents? 

Zac apparently thinks Candice Owens is "media," too. 

Tell me you don't understand what teachers do without telling me you know what teachers do?

Over the last few months, I would say about a third of his pieces had something to do with sex a third. The preoccupation is troubling. I then went back to 2020 (he is missing about two years' worth of tweets which makes me think, for some reason, he deleted a whole bunch, probably COVID misinformation but that's just a guess), and it seems he was a regular, if slightly boring guy, and it wasn't until he got to the Florida Standard that he went all take a loose string and turn it into a tapestry of lies, i.e., what most far-right media does. Fortunately, his pieces don't make much of a dent, except inexplicably with superintendent Greene and he seems to have the same amount of readers I do when I post what I had for lunch. 

I guess the bottom line is for anyone in a position of responsibility and authority to make a decision based on what he wrote is a manifest miscarriage of sanity and decency, and if Greene and the SB don't get that, then they are a big part of the problem.  

Greene replies to my concerns about DCPS ending its relationship with JASMYN, she doesn't give a #@!%

 Hey, am I media? I mean, if the Florida Standard and Post Milineal count as media, so must Education Matters, right?

So I sent the five levels of sane members my concerns about the district ending its relationship with JASMYN.

Many people were dismayed at the sudden announcement that the district had ended its decades-long relationship with JASMYN based on some "media" reports. First, if you google JASMYN no such media reports come up, but more outrageous is Dr. Greene's dereliction of duty.

She is a mandatory reporter. If she feels JASMYN has been showing pornography to children, she is required to report it, and the fact that she hasn't made me and many others believe this is part of her anti-LGBTQ agenda. 

The school board sets policy; you can overrule her, which is what you should do as soon as possible. Please prove me and large swaths of the community wrong that you not only don't care about LGBTQ children and staff, but you are against them.

And I guess one of them forwarded it to the super, and she replied

I imagine the only difference between my response and every other response that will be sent out is the Mr. Guerrieri at the top.

No effort to address the source of her so-called concerns or why she hasn't reported JASMYN, nothing,  but yada, yada, yada, I don't care.

The district has taken a far-right turn that should alarm us all, and for what? Not to improve education or protect students; that's obvious; the only reason is to appease and side with bigots and public eduction haters. We should and could be doing better.