Thursday's letters: School Board's petty politics, Sunshine Law violation, no hatred
Ziegler, posse pursue personal agendas
The recent Sarasota School Board meeting to discuss forcing out the superintendent was a sad display of petty politics conducted by unworthy elected officials.
My assessment of this travesty is that four board members are pursuing personal political ambitions in line with extremely conservative groups that have no place in local School Board business.
More: Board finalizes terms for superintendent's removal
In their discussions, Karen Rose’s comments are muddled and her specific reasoning weak and credibly rejected.
More: How to send a letter to the editor
Tim Enos comes across as inarticulate, off topic and feckless – a pawn.
Robyn Marinelli, after chastising Tom Edwards for “goading” her to speak (seriously), spoke glowingly of Superintendent Brennan Asplen, but that only to soothe her conscience, as she then voted “yes” a second time on a motion to move forward in negotiating his exit. She’s a pawn, too.
Bridget Ziegler, a founder of the extremely conservative Moms for Liberty, is the most skillful of the duplicitous quartet. She knows the plan and she’s sticking with it.
After her accomplices goad Asplen into an energetic response to outrageous complaints and ambush, she exclaims that the wronged superintendent has no cause to speak that way and that will justify her position to dismiss. Incredible!
This marks the beginning of more School Board turmoil.
Best wishes to Dr. Asplen.
Randal Jacobson, Sarasota
Board’s first move violated Sunshine Law
There can be no doubt that the new Sarasota County School Board violated Florida’s Sunshine Law as soon as it took over.
At the very first public meeting, in its very first order of business, board member Karen Rose made a motion to address the termination of Superintendent Brennan Asplen’s contract. Immediately, the three recently elected board members (Robyn Marinelli, Tim Enos and Bridget Ziegler, who was reelected) concurred.
More: Questions surround move to fire superintendent
This move was clearly intended as payback for Asplen’s bucking Gov. Ron DeSantis’ dictates during the COVID pandemic, and for sticking up for the rights of LGBTQ students within the Sarasota County school district. The new board obviously wants to install “one of our own” as superintendent.
It would be extraordinarily naive to believe that the four conservative board members did not plan this move in advance. Of course, they did. Anyone can see it.
And such planning would be in direct violation of Florida’s Sunshine Law. We have seen other local politicians pursued and punished for far less-obvious violations.
The only remedy for this despicable and illegal conduct is to sue the board for violation of Florida’s Sunshine Law.
Michael Phelan, Sarasota
Discharge troops who refuse vaccine
Fox News is often correct but giving airtime to Republican leaders who pledge to forgive troops for refusing their COVID vaccination shots is dead wrong.
Soldiers are supposed to take orders. Going to Vietnam or other countries required numerous shots. If personnel are too cowardly to take a shot in the arm, they are probably too scared to be in combat.
I say let them get out, and good riddance.
George Cohan’s World War I song, “Over There,” needs a new line: “Johnnie, get your shot,” instead of “Johnnie, get your gun.”
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Schmitendorf, Sarasota
Don’t teach students to hate others
Many critics of those who oppose critical race theory, the “1619 Project” and similar efforts to defame the U.S. in our schools claim they are opposing “censorship,” which would result in students not learning about slavery, racism or segregation in American history.
But as a former history professor who taught many hundreds of teachers-to-be, I know that public school curriculums have addressed these issues in detail for decades. What the critical race theory-influenced teachers are doing now is making slavery, segregation and discrimination the “whole story.”
They ignore the inspiring American story of opposing tyranny, creating the first modern republic, removing barriers to free enterprise, expanding the franchise and equality before the law and building what generations of poor immigrants rightly called “the best poor man’s country.”
Real progress is always incremental, and progress continues, but critical race theory and the woke agenda teach hatred of other races, genders and “identities” and undermine equality before the law by creating a false hierarchy of these “identities.”
Teachers have First Amendment freedoms, but not the freedom to teach hatred of our country and other people on the taxpayers’ dime.
I am confident that the people’s democratic right to control the curriculum in our schools and reject the elitist left-wing ideologies will be sustained by the courts. It certainly should be.
Douglas P. Seaton, Longboat Key
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Board veers to extreme right, discharge troops who refuse vaccine
