Wednesday's letters: Question how new School Board spends our tax dollars

Scrutinize School Board spending

Wake up, Florida! I didn’t say you have to be "woke," whatever that means.

"Wake up, Florida" means look at the cultural wars Gov. Ron DeSantis tees up to divide the state while he gains more and more power. Wake up to see how these culture wars are costing Americans’ tax dollars.

Take the Sarasota County School Board, which has spent huge sums of money to get rid of a qualified superintendent.

Story: School Board finalizes superintendent's departure

More: How to send a letter to the editor

The recent book banning also cost the school district thousands of dollars as the appeals process played out. The mother who wanted a book banned had a solution last May when the school's principal assured her that her child would not be able to take out the book in question.

Problem solved. No, the mother kept appealing!

Imagine if all of this money had been spent tutoring Sarasota’s third-grade readers, since the School Board said one reason for removing Superintendent Brennan Asplen was that these students were underperforming.

More:Voters renew school property tax

Last spring, nearly 85% of voters approved the renewal of a 1-mill property tax, which generates millions of dollars. We valued our A-rated schools and were willing to pay to keep them.

Are we getting our money’s worth?

Joyce Peralta, Sarasota

Biden has worn out his welcome

During his short time as president, Joe Biden has been a complete failure.

Last summer, the country suffered from the worst inflation in 40 years, and inflation remains high today. Biden’s answer? Spend trillions more dollars.

His handling of COVID turned people off, with ever-changing directives coming out of the administration.

Under Biden, America is facing the worst border crisis in our history.

Our crime rates make living in most cities so dangerous that people are moving out.

Biden’s refusal to listen to his generals concerning the Afghanistan withdrawal caused the deaths of our troops, abandonment of our allies and embarrassment to our country.

Our president’s answer to the nation’s serious problems is promoting “woke” policies to keep his far-left voters happy.

Although many Democrats want no part of Biden running again, it is possible he will. With his 42% approval rating, he’d best get out of Dodge. He has worn out his welcome.

Charles Dawson, Venice

Sectarianism is taking over

We are snowbirds from Switzerland. For 26 years we have enjoyed the beautiful weather in the Sunshine State, Sarasota’s cultural institutions and the wonderful Siesta Beach. We subscribe to the Herald-Tribune to be informed about what’s going on in the country and in Florida.

But since the presidency of Donald Trump we feel uncomfortable because the tolerance in the political and daily life has partly changed to sectarianism.

We were shocked to watch an armed right-wing mob on Jan. 6, 2021, with the blessing of President Trump, storm the Capitol to block the certification of Joe Biden as the next president.

Unfortunately, Gov. Ron DeSantis shows the same sectarianism in his actions.

More:With superintendent out, board appoints interim replacement

More:The 'revolution' has begun at New College - and so have the nagging questions

Under DeSantis' leadership, the Sarasota County School Board carried out the politically motivated ouster of popular Superintendent Brennan Asplen, and the governor's handpicked appointees are carrying out a forced shakeup of the leadership of New College of Florida.

Censuring books at schools, rejecting an AP African American Studies course and creating questionable laws are more of DeSantis' unfortunate moves.

More:Board requires parental consent to read anti-racism book

You have to ask yourself: Is peaceful coexistence between diverse groups in America threatened? And shouldn’t it be the duty of politicians to condemn sectarianism and promote respectful interaction, rather than opposing it?Brigitta Moser-Harder, Sarasota

Letters displayed lack of awareness

Two Feb. 9 writers illustrated our plight better than any lectures.

One letter writer was gleeful at owning the libs, whose “hypocrisy is frankly almost unbelievable,” for opposing the destruction of New College – as if the college’s faculty barred Ayn Rand and Fred Hayek books and scholarship in favor of indoctrinating Marx and Engels.

The other bemoaned that “we are destroying American history” by opposing the re-installation of a Confederate monument in Bradenton. The writer declared that in “the 1920s and 1930s participants from both sides of the Civil War reconciled” – and that hundreds of Confederate monuments were installed to celebrate this reconciliation.

More:Manatee's commissioners are trolling, not leading, on Confederate monument issue

Halcyon days, those 1920s! The zenith of the Ku Klux Klan. Hundreds of Black men were lynched. In Florida, dozens were murdered by a white mob in Ocoee after Mose Norman attempted to vote on Nov. 2, 1920.

Throughout the South, millions of Black Americans were barred from registering to vote, drinking at public fountains, eating in public restaurants and getting a decent education. Legally (and brutally) enforced segregation had returned them close to the status of slaves.

Yet the letter writer seemed to be blissfully oblivious, and applauded DeSantis for barring study of this Black history, and its relevance today.

Philippe Koenig, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Governor's costly cultural war, why Biden is a failure