Let’s talk about the school board’s role in firing the superintendent. (draft)

 Let’s talk about the school board’s role in firing the superintendent.

Kelly Coker, what an unnecessary meeting. Greene should have announced she was retiring, which would have saved a lot of tears over the last week, and then Coker should have scheduled a normal meeting. Scheduling a last-minute meeting under a dubious pretense isn’t how things should be done. She needs to get used to doing things the right way, which would be a refreshing change from how things are usually done.  

I also hope this is a wake-up call for her. There have been no profiles of courage on the board, and the governor has already targeted her for removal. If I were her, I would side with public ed every time, and even if forced to carry out the state’s disastrous policies, I would educate the people on how disastrous they are. If you must go, it’s better to support teachers and students than fascists.

Cindi Pearson, like Coker, has been targeted for replacement which is wild because the GOP was behind her and spent money on her in the last go around. How this uber-Christian conservative mom is not good enough for them is a mystery, especially since, like the rest of the board here, she has had zero pushback to the state. She has an opportunity to step up, and I think she will be rewarded for it. Be silent, and she alienates public ed supporters while the Moms for Fascism could care less and will still fight against her.

Warren Jones, talk about being asleep at the wheel. He hasn’t done anything since changing the school names, and yesterday he said that Greene was being forced out because she wouldn’t follow the governor’s agenda. Um, Warren, that’s all she and you have been doing for the last two years; both of you have been on team DeSantis. Warren, you are the bad guy here, well, one of them anyways.

Darryl Willie, he was outraged the super was being forced out, except she wasn’t. She doesn’t have a job starting 6/2 because she hasn’t been good at her job for quite some time; I mean, unless her job is carrying is marginalizing LGBTQ children, throwing veteran teachers under the bus, and banning books, all things Willie shrugged his shoulders about. The truth is Greene and he weren’t as close as he thought, and she didn’t feel the need to loop him in, but that’s a personal, not education, issue.

Lori Hershey, I don’t know what happened to her. This is not the Hershey from 6 or even 4 years ago because then she was a reliable supporter of public ed.  She really changed when she entertained the idea of running for the state house, and probably because the Republicans in Mandarin are okay with cruelty and revel in ignorance. She is now a lot more Mom’s for Liberty than the education advocate that ran in 2012, was beaten by a hack, and stayed involved because, let’s face it, when most people lose a run for SB, they disappear and then came back an education advocate. Out of all the SB members, I am most disappointed in her because, at one point, she knew better.

April Carney, on the other hand, doesn’t, and she seems more than okay with that.  Can somebody answer me this, is she always yelling and is she always nasty, because every time I see her, that’s how she seems. That’s probably why she fit in so well at the insurrection. To be honest, folks, I would probably be more critical of her, but it is so $%# &^@# ridiculous seeing the insurrectionist on the SB; it's hard to take anything she says or does seriously. I am reminded of the Dean Wormer quote from animal house whenever I see her except replace fat, drunk, and stupid, with angry, ignorant, and fascist.

Charlotte Joyce, people may not realize it, but when she was first elected, it was with the support of teachers and unions. The GOP didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Then she turned heel, and the GOP loved her. Even the school board knows how incapable she is and just looks at who is chair and vice chair for evidence of that; Coker and Pearson are both in their second years on the board, while Joyce is in her fifth and is nowhere near the center seat.    

I would love to write Joyce, and Carney are the villains on the board, but the truth is it’s hard to tell them apart from any of the others. Sure, Pearson and Coker don’t rant and scream and seem competent, but they supported the same policies that Carney and Joyce do, and that’s what really matters.

So, at the end of the day, Jones and Willie were upset, though the real reasons are they weren’t in Greene’s loop and don’t seem to understand they are on team DeSantis, the person they claim forced Greene out, as well. That kind of tone deafness is frightening.

Joyce, Carney, and Hershey are probably happy, though since Greene bent over backward to appease the extremists probably can’t articulate why. Grad jury, something, something, reports, something, something.

Then there is the chair and vice chair, Coker and Pearson, apparently in the loop but still not quite willing to do things the right way. I hope these ladies wake up because DeSantis is coming for them, and if they have to go, I think it’s better to go supporting students and teachers than siding with fascists because even if they weren’t, Greene just found out that to them you are useful until you are not.