Playwriter Paula Vogel calls out superintendent Greene for playing politics/censorship

In a blistering indictment of Superintendent Greene, playwright Paula Vogel, author of Indecent a play recently canceled by DCPS, takes Greene to the mat, pointing out her hypocrisy, and failed leadership. 

From the Times Union: 

“I’m not in the business of politics, but whatever that [school] board says in terms of statements that they've released about why they’re doing this, they’re putting sheep’s clothing over a wolf. And the wolf is Governor DeSantis,” playwright Paula Vogel says about the cancelation of "Indecent" in an interview with the literary rights group PEN America. 

“So the school board is saying, oh, this has nothing to do with the Don’t Say Gay bill. Right. Can I sell you a bridge?” Vogel asks in the conversation posted on PEN America’s website. 

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/education/2023/01/11/playwright-blasts-false-reason-for-canceling-douglas-anderson-play/69797348007/ 

Vogle was speaking truth to power there something that hardly ever happens. In fact, I bet Greene is surrounded by yes men who never question her, who never push back. 

Should we ban books? Yes, mam. 

Should we attack the LGBTQ community. Oh yes, mam. 

Standing up for our veteran teachers is a bad idea, right? certainly mam. 

A few white lies about staffing levels and subs is okay, isn’t it? Yes mam 

We should ban this play, shouldn’t we? Yes, mam, whatever you say, mam. 

Vogle wasn’t having it. Like most of us do, we know banning the play was a bad move. We know banning the play was wrong. 

Banning books, canceling plays, and attacking marginalized groups are all just symptoms of failed leadership, and regardless of how bad Tallahassee is, and believe me I get it, Tallahassee is supremely bad, the buck stops with Greene.  

We could and should be doing better. 

Below is a link to the original piece on the Pen website. 

https://pen.org/paula-vogel-indecent/ 

Media specialists are being threatened with third-degree felonies if they don’t comply.

Years ago, DCPS gutted its media specialists, and we are operating with about a quarter of what we should have. Imagine that district with a serious reading problem said libraries and the people that work there can go pound sand, but that’s Duval. Fast forward to the Don’t Say Gay bill, and a problem already untenable has been made much worse. Now, these overworked and underappreciated few are facing third-degree felony charges if they don’t comply with a ridiculous law made to appease bigots and gin up a willfully ignorant base.   

From WFTV.com 

Local librarians say that instead of clarifying new laws as intended, the training creates a climate of fear. Some slides tell school librarians that pornography found in their collections could lead to a third-degree felony. 

“I see that some librarians self-censor because they’re afraid of getting in trouble, and that should not be a consideration as far as choosing books for our students,” Rodriguez said. 

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/osceola-county/central-florida-school-librarians-say-new-mandated-training-needs-be-redone/HQ3DWM653FD2ZGLKKP5ODSUDBE/ 

Please click the link; the story is both brief and terrifying. 

Fear and intimidation that’s all the state has. If you don’t do what we want, we’ll take away funding. If you don’t do what we want, you can lose your certificate, job, and retirement. If you don’t follow whatever half-baked illogical plan whose only purpose is to gin up our willingly fact-free base, then we’re going to @#%$ you.  

A third-degree felony if some Mom for Spritzer doesn’t like a book about two gay penguins raising a chick or a play about censorship that has queer characters.  

DeSantis says we are living in the free state of Florida, a Fascist state where you are free to do and think only what he allows you is much closer to the truth.   

DCPS makes national NPR, and not is a good way

 DCPS makes national NPR, and not is a good way

DCPS has made some terrible choices over the last year, from attacking the LGBTQ community at every turn to banning books from diverse authors. Another thing it also did recently was force the local performing arts high school to cancel its spring play Indecent, drawing the ire of decent folks everywhere.

Indecent is a play that is about censorship and how it is wrong, a lesson that DCPS obviously hasn’t learned.  

From NPR.org

PEN America and two other free speech groups are drawing national attention to Florida county school officials' decision to cancel a play that is itself about censorship.

Last week, Duval County Public School officials canceled a production of Paula Vogel's Indecent at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. Officials said the play about a play about a love affair between two women is "inappropriate," as reported by WJCT.

PEN America, along with The National Coalition Against Censorship and the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund released a statement condemning the decision and "urged school officials to rescind their decision and work with students to stage the play as planned."

The free speech organizations wrote that Indecent explores "LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, censorship, and antisemitism in the early 20th Century — themes which have striking relevance to the issues facing society today." They pointed out that Douglas Anderson's recent productions include RENT and Chicago, shows with, "as much, if not more, 'sexual dialogue' as is conveyed in Indecent."

"If vaguely-defined adult sexual dialogue' is reason enough to ban plays from school productions," the statement continued, "these, and many other canonical productions would be banned from student theaters — Romeo and Juliet for depicting sexually active teens, Oedipus Rex for its incestual themes, and other works that have serious literary and artistic value for students and community members."

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/10/1148182892/indecent-paula-vogel-censorship?ft=nprml&f=1148182892

Sigh, DCPS can’t just get out of its own way.  

What is Greene’s plan? Run DCPS into the ground and then retire? What does she want to be remembered for? Banning books, canceling plays, and attacking the LGBTQ community? Who does she represent? The vast majority of teachers and students or Moms for Liberty and DeSantis?

We can and should be doing better, and her lack of leadership hurts us all.  

The State of Florida is at a crossroads. One sign says Gilead, and the other says a prosperous Florida where all its people can be respected and treated fairly. Greene has chosen Gilead. 

Which is actually harmful to children? Active shooter drills or gay penguins?

Florida has become a state where up is down and right is wrong. 

Think about this, Florida's public school students endure monthly active shooter drills because of the real and present danger of gun violence, something the state refuses to do anything about. Instead, in a pyrrhic attempt to protect children, they have banned, And Tango Makes Three, the real and heartwarming story of two male penguins raising a chick.

Which of the two do you think is more dangerous for Florida's students?

Let’s tackle active shooter drills first; this is what Sandy Hook Promise says: 

Lockdown Drills Are Scary Enough 

Active shooter simulations are worse. Many students express anxiety and worry about regular lockdown drills. Generations of students are learning to hide under their desks and barricade their doors. They are taught to block windows to avoid being seen by a potential shooter. 

Now, imagine there was someone running through the halls pretending to be a shooter. Imagine them carrying a fake weapon pounding on your student’s classroom door, and taking aim at students and teachers in the hallways. Imagine your local school piping in the sound of gunfire, claiming it will help students prepare for the real thing. 

How can we expect students to walk away unscathed? 

https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/blog/advocacy/active-shooter-drills-harmful-or-helpful/ 

Lockdown drills are scary enough, and as somebody with a back wall that is actually a row of floor-to-ceiling windows that wouldn’t stop a well-thrown rock, I doubt an accurate representation of what I would do should there be an active shooter, at least on my campus. 

Next, let’s see what the American Psychiatric Association says: 

One study by Moore et al. used a text polling service to survey 815 youth ages 14-24. Findings show that among a diverse sample of youth in the United States gun violence (82.6%) and active shooter drills (68.5%) impact a large majority of youth, many times in negative or unintentional ways. Shockingly, few youths in this study (6.7%) reported experiencing drills that follow national recommendations of Run. Hide. Fight. More than half of the youth in this study (60.2%) reported feeling unsafe, scared, helpless, or sad as a result of experiencing active shooter drills. Teens who practiced drills made it clear that these emotions reflect the serious implications of such experiences, “Active shooter drills make me feel afraid, because if you make a sound your life and the life of your classmates will be in danger.” Youth were also conflicted over the effectiveness of drills, with one describing them as “a necessary evil.” Although more than half (56.1%) stated that drills made students more prepared for an active shooter event, there was a lack of consensus over whether they make schools safer. 

https://apafdn.org/news-events/blog/active-shooter-drills-first,-do-no-harm 

Hmm, it made students feel “… unsafe, scared, helpless, or sad as a result of experiencing active shooter drills. 

I guess those feelings are okay. 

Finally, let’s check in with Everytown.org 

 In the absence of any conclusive evidence on drills’ effectiveness at ensuring safety during actual active shooter incidents, Everytown urges school decision-makers to assess whether the potential but unproven benefits of these drills outweigh their known collateral consequences to school communities’ mental health and wellbeing. 

https://www.everytown.org/solutions/active-shooter-drills/ 

Florida hasn’t truly cared about students’ mental health and well-being for quite some time. Those feelings are trumped by campaign dollars from the NRA. 

So, what do we know? We know there is no evidence that the drills are effective, but there is plenty of evidence that they can negatively impact students' mental health and well-being. So, what does Florida do? They ban a book about gay penguins. 

From believe or not, Fox News, 

"We removed access to ‘And Tango Makes Three’ for our kindergarten through third-grade students in alignment with Florida HB 1557, which prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for those grade levels," Sherri Owens, the Lake County Florida communications director told Fox News Digital. 

The banning of the book stems from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' education legislation he signed into law last year. Florida House Bill 1557 "Parental Rights in Education," which was dubbed by critics as the "don't say gay" bill. The law bans teachers from giving classroom instruction on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" in grades kindergarten through third grade. 

"And Tango Makes Three" is one of several books that have been removed from schools after DeSantis and state Republicans passed legislation on restricting instruction on critical race theory and gender theory. 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/florida-school-district-bans-book-about-real-life-gay-penguin-relationship-citing-parental-rights-law 

Two male penguins raising a chick, bad, doing nothing about guns and terrorizing children, good, that is Florida. 

Florida is not being led by its best in brightest. Instead, it is being run by fascists hell-bent on turning it into Gilead. Me, well, I will stand with Tango and his two dads.  

The only thing Indecent about the play Indecent is DCPS canceling it (draft)

When I went to high school, we had an annual event called Mr. Ugly, a beauty pageant of sorts where high school boys dressed up as women. I wonder if this decades-old event is going to be allowed to continue or not.  

I ask because last week, inexplicably DCPS made Douglass Anderson school for the performing arts cancel their spring play Indecent. The reason they gave was it had adult themes.  

From the Jax Today newsletter 

A high school production of “Indecent,” a play about censorship featuring a prostitute and gay Jewish characters, has been canceled due to what Duval County Public Schools describes as “inappropriate” content. 

https://news.wjct.org/first-coast/2023-01-06/high-school-play-indecent-sexual-content 

Hmm, a story about a Jew and prostitute, does that sound familiar to anyone? Maybe from a little book called the bible? 

DCPS has sure embraced Governor DeSantis’s don’t say gay mantra, and they are doing so with the flimsiest of excuses.   

Douglas Anderson has put on plays with adult themes before.  

A look at the Boosters site shows stills from Brighton Beach memoirs which are described as, A comedy built around the Jerome family during the Depression and focusing on fifteen-year-old Eugene, preoccupied with sex and the Yankees. 

Sex seems like a pretty adult theme to me, but I guess since it is hetero, not homo sex, then it's okay.  

I bet if we looked back at DA’s past, we would find plenty of productions with adult themes, but suddenly they are no longer permissible, or rather some adult themes, that is. 

Greene has said over and over that she supports the LGBTQ community but over and over, her actions tell a different story, a story that wants to send them back to the closet, a story that is okay with bigotry and segregation.  

Then friends does it matter if Greene is a homophobe something I believe or if she is just a coward unwilling to stand up to a small vocal group hell-bent on changing education to fit their narrow views because the result is the same? No it doesn’t.  

Then think about this, maybe its not just the LGBTQ that is facing this bigotry from DCPS, maybe it’s the Jewish community as well.    

The story of DCPC canceling the play made the Jewish Telegraphic Times. 

“The 100-year anniversary of Sholem Asch’s ‘God of Vengeance’ being shut down on Broadway is the same week that our production of ‘Indecent’ would have opened,” said Madeline Scotti, the student who first drew attention on Instagram to the censorship by her local school board of the “queer Jewish love story” in which Scotti had been cast. “One hundred years — 100 years — and we are still fighting the same injustices that Sholem Asch and his company did.” 

Scotti is a student at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, where students had been planning to perform Paula Vogel’s “Indecent” this spring — until officials told them on Thursday, the first day of rehearsals, that their show could not go on. Scotti attributed the censorship to Florida’s new law limiting classroom instruction and discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity — what opponents call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. 

Vogel said she, too, was first concerned about homophobia — then added other worries as she heard from people in Jacksonville. 

“Parents who live in the community have written to me and said, ‘There is rising antisemitism in our community,’” Vogel told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Sunday. “I very much think that what the school board may not be able to express is their concern about presenting a play that shows how censorship is the first step to the Holocaust.” 

https://www.jta.org/2023/01/09/culture/florida-school-board-cancels-paula-vogels-indecent-a-queer-jewish-love-story-about-a-censored-yiddish-play 

This is on the heels of DCPS banning books, including ones from Jewish Authors 

From the Jerusalem Post 

Mara Rockliff’s “Chik Chak Shabbat” has become a standard for Jewish children since its 2014 publication. The picture book intended for young readers tells a whimsical story about a group of diverse neighbors who help an observant Jewish woman make her cholent — a stew traditionally served on the Sabbath — when they realize she doesn’t feel well enough to cook it herself. 

 

So why did a school district in Jacksonville, Florida, purchase copies of the book only to keep it from students for 15 months? 

 

That’s what happened at Duval County Public Schools. The district initially ordered Rockliff’s book for its students in July 2021 as part of a larger diversity-themed collection of books called “Essential Voices,” which is offered to educators by Iowa-based educational company Perfection Learning. 

 

https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-725105 

Once again, does it matter if Greene and DCPS are antisemitic or just cowards looking out for themselves? The outcome, Jewish voices being banned, is the same. 

There is no doubt the district is in a hard place, DeSantis is anti-public education as much as he is anti-LGBTQ; the thing is DCPS saying they are just following orders will not be forgiven by history.  

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and Greene is consistently wrong, and at this point, after years of her being so, the reasons don’t matter.   

This week in anti-LGBTQ and fascism in Florida

So Florida hasn't just made a hard right turn; it has gone full-on Hungary (the country) as it seeks to oppress independent thought and LGBTQ rights. This week's examples are DCPS forcing the performing arts high school to cancel a play with queer characters and the governor appointing an anti-trans activist (and five of his buddies), Christoper Rufo, to the board of the New College with the aim of making it the Hillsdale of the south.

Let's start with DCPS continuing its attacks against the LGBTQ community by forcing Douglass Anderson to change its spring play.

Activist Mat Hartley posted both of these on his twitter page

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts production of the play Indecent, which is a Queer Jewish love story, and a cautionary tale about censorship… Censored, shut down by

@DuvalSchools

due to Don’t Say Gay bill concerns?

I am going to go ahead and say Greene is a homophobe because, after all she has done attacking the LGBTQ community, there can be no other possibility and shame on her.

The later DeSantis, another raging homophobe, appointed Chufo to the board of the New College. That name may sound familiar, as John Oliver did a show talking about how dangerous he is.

Rufo started his 15 minutes railing against critical race theory by has recently transitioned to attacking trans children and adults.

Rufo used to admit what he was doing is nothing but a schtick because nobody on the right cares what is true and not true. 

From the Daily Beast

“What Rufo has been cleverly doing is cherry-picking the worst examples that he can find of lessons in classrooms or training materials for teachers and saying, that is CRT,” explained Oliver. “And he’s openly admitted that he’s been engaged in a deliberate rebranding exercise, tweeting, ‘We have successfully frozen their brand—“critical race theory”—into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions… The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/last-week-tonights-john-oliver-expertly-debunks-the-rights-critical-race-theory-panic

Rufo has no business being anywhere near education at any level, but like many of DeSantis's appointees, being deplorable is a requirement

King DeSantis doesn't care who he hurts as he seeks to turn Florida free; as long as you only do what he wants and don't question him, being an educator and LGBTQ are problematic as well.

You get a gun, I get a gun, all teachers get a gun, coming soon to DCPS

 Guns in classrooms, sigh, why is the solution to gun violence often more guns? Is the solution to cancer more cancer? What bad thing can be solved with more of that bad thing? Despite this, guns in the classroom may be coming to DCPS, especially after superintendent Greene’s hard right turn and embracing the indefensible. 

In the Florida Voice, school board member Lori Hershey was asked about any upcoming community meetings and this is what she said. 

 Q: Do you have any community meetings planned?
A: Yes. We will have a community meeting on Jan. 17 from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. at Loretto Elementary School specifically to discuss an upcoming safety topic. With the apparent desire of the Florida Commissioner of Education to expand the Guardian Program to include the ability for teachers and coaches to carry a gun in schools, I’d like to get the community’s input. Presently, Duval County Public Schools is operating under a resolution we passed about five years ago that limits gun carry to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and our security guards. This possible expansion is something I’d like the community to learn about and give their input. I hope to learn what District 7 thinks of this proposal at this meeting. 

https://www.floridanewsline.com/mandarin/q-a-with-duval-county-school-board-member-lori-hershey-district-7-22/ 

I have always liked Mrs. Hershey, now don’t get me wrong, I was befuddled and disappointed when after thinking about a run for the state house, she played to a far-right base and voted against changing the names of schools named after confederate generals, but overall she has been a solid though not very vocal supporter of public education. However, with that part, she has plenty of company. 

So should I be glad she is having a community meeting to discuss it? Probably not, as we have seen how the right-wing base turns out recently to fight against LGBTQ protections, sex ed, and books, yes, books. I can imagine a mob of gun-nuts showing up demanding their teachers have guns even though this will undoubtedly lead to a tragedy and don’t take my word for it, take facts and evidence instead. 

From the University of Connecticut 

There is extremely limited evidence on the effectiveness of SROs in deterring violence. There is no empirical support for the suggestion that SROs prevent school shootings.^[lvii] Research on averted school shootings – incidents planned by students and then prevented – suggests that the key is having trusted adults whom other students can inform.^[lviii] 

In the triad model concept advanced by NASRO, in addition to their law enforcement role, SROs will act as another mentor, educator, or counselor. However, this assumption ignores the fact that Black youth, Latine youth, immigrant youth, indigenous youth, and youth living in poverty often come to school with harmful experiences with police that may perpetuate racial inequalities in educational, health, and social outcomes.^[lxii] By putting police in schools, we are exacerbating these issues 

 https://education.uconn.edu/2020/10/27/the-prevalence-and-the-price-of-police-in-schools/ 

Guns in classrooms is a manifestly stupid idea. Having overworked, underpaid, and stressed-out teachers with minimal training make the idea exponentially more stupid.   

The acted-upon solutions to gun violence, turning schools into prisons and arming more people, are destructive and will do more harm than good, and evidence proves that just doesn’t work. Which is truly maddening because there are solutions out there. 

Smaller classes so teachers can know their students better, and teachers aren’t overworked, allowing them to catch the signs of potential trouble. 

School psychologists and social workers to intervene with children in trouble and full-service schools where we can make sure children get what they need would all prove more beneficial. 

So, kudos to Mrs. Hershey for having a meeting but a raspberry too for not saying, no, not on my watch, under no circumstance will I entertain the idea of arming teachers.  

We should use facts and evidence to make decisions, especially lifesaving or life-endangering ones, not the angry voices of willfully ignorant mobs.  

If Diana Greene won't stand up for her veteran teachers, what makes you think she will stand up for anybody? (draft)

 As somebody who has written thousands of blogs and been published hundreds of times, I have a smidge of a voice, just a smidge; nothing I have said or written could possibly have the impact of a sitting school board member or current superintendent, nothing. I get it. What I don’t get, however, is why they don’t use their voices. I don’t understand why they are content with DeSantis and his fascist administration dismantle public education and the teaching profession; I don’t get it, not one bit. As example number one, let’s look at teacher salaries, especially veteran teacher salaries. 

Before I start, let me say I am glad that new teachers have seen their salaries go up quite dramatically over the last few years. Heck, I am elated. That being said, everybody should understand that, at least initially, those salaries went up only because mostly veteran teachers saw their salaries slashed.       

When DeSantis made his initial proposal to raise starting salaries, he took the money from two admittedly flawed programs, Best and Brightest, and school recognition funds and dumped it all into starting salaries. As flawed as these programs were, they put real money into many veteran teachers' pockets, real money they would no longer see. 

DeSantis could have said, we are going to give every teacher from year 1 to year 30 and beyond a 2,300 dollar raise, but instead of doing that, and just so he could get a sound bite on the evening news, he said, let's raise starting salaries to 47,500 and veterans, well %@$# em. I blogged about this. I wrote letters about this, and I told everyone I could about this monumental disservice; this would do, as well. But you know who didn’t say a GD word? Superintendent Greene. Not one word. 

She shrugged her shoulders as veteran teachers, people who proved they could do the job, people who made a career out of helping other people’s children, teachers with double-digit years of experience were now making just a few more dollars than the new teacher in the building, a teacher I might add who would most likely have to depend on those disrespected veterans for their success.          

Aren’t leaders supposed to lead? Aren’t they supposed to stand up for their people? Aren’t they supposed to fight to make sure they are respected and fairly treated? Or, you know, the exact opposite of what Greene routinely does.  

Greene could have used her position to educate people bout how unfair the proposal was. She could have used her pulpit to let people know, and I have always believed once people know what is happening, they would want, no, they would demand better.   

The super has a tough job made tougher by a state that seems bound and determined to destroy public education, but it’s a tough job she chose, and it’s a tough job that includes taking care of her teachers because the better things are for teachers, the better they will be for students, and Greene doesn’t seem to know that. 

She could have spoken up. She could have informed people what DeSantis's proposals actually met. SHE decided not to and whether that makes her a coward wallowing in silence or she doesn’t care about her staff it doesn’t really matter because in the end the results are the same. 

Leanna Cumber fails to mention her anti-public education bonifides in her run for mayor

 Leanna Cumber is running for mayor, and she would be a disaster. Never one for following city politics beyond whom to vote for mayor, all that changed in 2018 as the mayor and city council rallied against public education, read that again, rallied against public education, all so some of their mega-donors who had invested in charter schools could get paid. Their depravity sunk so low that the office of the general council changed the meaning of the word shall to, do whatever the 4%@# you want, and it was around then I first heard of Leanna Cumber.

Many city council members fought against the referendum that would benefit the severely underfunded public school system, including members Tommy Hazouri (who sold his soul) and Brenda Priestly-Jackson, who should have known better. There was something about Cumber, however that made her stand apart. She not only fought against the referendum but was often, and seemingly gleefully so, against public schools in general, talking about school grades and reading rates and anything she could to put public education in a bad light. It didn’t matter to her that public ed, especially public ed in Jacksonville, which has never benefitted from impact fees, as every other city provides, was grievously underfunded.  

There was even a city council meeting where she started her comments, accusing the school district of being disrespectful to the city council, and I remind you that the council’s role was supposed to be purely ceremonial, which led to a ruckus and the eventual clearing of the meeting which was packed.

Okay, that’s bad enough, but it doesn’t stop there. Her fighting against our schools which will ultimately cost the city’s taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and shrugging her shoulders at the OGC changing the meaning of the word shall to defend their indefensible position, both should be disqualifying, but she said hold my beer and has sought the endorsement of Mom’s for Liberty, a small fascist group seeking to redefine public education.  

Mom’s for Liberty has spent the last year calling teachers pedophiles and groomers, claimed teachers are actively trying to get small children to switch genders, attacked the LGBTQ community, supported the whitewashing of history, and banned books. They are led locally by school board member April Carney who won’t say if she was at the insurrection one way or another. This is Cumber’s base; these are the people she is depending on to get her elected. This basket of deplorables is her go-to.  

There is a commercial painting Cumber as a liberal, she’s not, but neither is she a conservative; what she is, is a parasite pretending to be whatever she thinks will help her advance, and I have to say, I believe that dream is about to come to a crushing end.

The city can do a lot better than Cumber, and after looking at her record, we can’t afford not to.

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.