Being a super has to be incredibly difficult, and being a super in Florida has to be nearly impossible; I get it. That being said, it's a job Greene signed up for, and there should be nothing wrong with wanting her to do her job well; we should all not just want it but expect it too. Unless you are one of her supporters in the recent dust-up with the state, then she gets a pass because she's not responsible for anything.
I have talked with several people I respect and like who is solidly on Team Greene, wondering what I was missing. I did not see this level of support for somebody who has been over backward to appease the extremists, something one of them said.
I expected most people to shrug their shoulders and prepare to move on.
After hemming and hawing, the reasons for their loyalty were universally light on substance or incorrect.
They said she has had a target on her back since COVID. Um, no, Greene did everything she could to support the DeSantis agenda. She fought against masks, and it was only a rare showing of backbone that saw DCPS initiate a mask policy that Greene quickly kneecapped.
They have said she has been forced to follow the DeSantis agenda, and yes and no.
First, this makes it sound like she is just following orders, which has never been a winner in history.
Then she is not forced to do anything; she can make choices and say no. Now there may be consequences, and one can argue those are what she has sought to avoid, but in doing so, she just passes on consequences to teachers who had their classroom libraries stripped and LGBTQ children who have been attacked and hounded. She made her being safe and comfortable her priority, and fair enough, but let's not pretend there is anything noble about it.
I also want to point out that I have never called for her breaking or resisting laws. We have an angry child in the governor's office. Instead, I have called for her to follow the laws and educate people as she does. She made the choice over and over to stay silent. She could have said, as super, I am obligated to follow these laws, but these laws hurt children and teachers, these laws are bad for public ed, and I would urge you to find candidates who support public ed, who want to help it succeed instead of tearing it down. Instead, she remained silent time and time and time and time again.
Let's talk about D.A. I have heard over and over there were other supers in charge while things were going on, and where true; Greene has been in charge since 2018. Isn't she, at the very least, partly responsible? The same goes for the Grand Jury, which reported the district covering up crimes from 2016-2020. Nothing? She gets a pass? Well, some of her supporters think she should.
Emptying classroom libraries, she was forced to, they say, which doesn't explain why 65 of the 67 school districts didn't do it.
Attacks on the LGBTQ community, she didn't have a choice? This is true except for the scraping off of safe space stickers, the gutting of the handbook, the taking down of anti-bullying videos, ending the relationship with JASMYN, and getting rid of every book with a gay character.
Nothing is her fault, and everything can be explained away.
What am I missing? Is she not in charge of or responsible for anything?
This is my bottom line, I think there are definitely politics going on; DCPS embarrassed the governor, and even though she has been in lockstep with him, somebody has to pay, and I also believe there is a racial component; if she was not a black woman, the support for firing/keeping, form both sides would be different but after all that, I don't care. If she ends up leaving partly for some bad reasons, I am more than okay with it because she has given us plenty of good ones.
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