Tensions ran high at Tuesday’s Leon County School Board meeting, where more than 60 people showed up to condemn or support Board Member Darryl Jones’s comments calling conservative activist Charlie Kirk a “racist, misogynist, homophobic Klansman.”
“I’m here this evening because Leon County Schools continues to demonstrate a need of improvement both at the district level and with members of the school board,” Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas told the school board.
“Board member Darryl Jones has shown a disturbing willingness to engage in political theater to appease political fanatics and to encourage teachers in this county to do the same,” Kamoutsas said. “He chose to use the murder of an innocent man on a school campus to sow division rather than uniting and serving his community, his actions erode the trust and distract from the district’s educational mission.”
Kamoutsas spoke about concerns over the district’s ongoing salary negotiations with the Leon Classroom Teachers Association and School Board Member Darryl Jones comments about Kirk, a conservative political activist who was assassinated Sept. 10 at a university in Utah.
The social media postings of teachers, education officials and state employees about Kirk have been under heightened scrutiny after his death with a frenzy of firings and investigations across the state. That’s also enflamed deep divisions over First Amendment rights and the consequences of free speech.
Kamoutsas posted a memo which said teachers could lose their certifications and be fired if they post “despicable comments” about Kirk.
Since the comments were brought to light by the Florida GOP, Kirk supporters have called for a public apology, reprimand and Jones’ resignation.
“I do not believe that someone who expresses such harmful attitudes should be in a position of authority around children or be making decisions that affect them,” one speaker said. “I urge the school board to condemn this kind of behavior publicly and in appropriate actions to ensure school remains a place of safety and respect for everyone.”
More than 20 commentators signed up to speak during the meeting: 13 against Jones and eight in his favor.
One speaker said Jones’ comments would exacerbate a trend that is already fueling a financial crisis at Leon County Schools and push conservative parents to pull their children from public schools and send them to private schools.
“What’s going to happen is there is going to be a flood of parents who are not going to put their kids in this school system ever again. All of you have given the private schools a major infusion of parents standing in line who are to do their best to take these dollars away from Leon County and go give them to a private school,” speaker Scott Olson said. “Thank you, Mr. Jones, thank you to every one of you board members for helping the private schools in this community because you have ignited it.”
Pastor Michael Price of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where Jones attends service, defended the board member’s First Amendment rights.
“The First Amendment was not written to protect popular speech, it was written to protect the speech that challenges, that provokes, that makes us uncomfortable,” Price said. “Mr. Jones was elected by the people to represent them, to serve our students and our community. He was not elected to be silent.”
Jones did not respond to any of the speakers or give a statement after the public comment section concluded. School Board Member Laurie Cox however, did.
“Yes, everyone has a right to say what they want, and a freedom of speech, it doesn’t matter what you say, and Charlie Kirk would absolutely agree with that,” Cox said. “But it doesn’t come without responsibility and elected officials, teachers, administrators, we just have to be absolutely careful what we’re saying and that it’s not divisive.”
Cox is the board’s only Republican member and has previously expressed her disdain for negative comments regarding Kirk’s death and noted the limitations of the First Amendment.
In a brief interview with Jones after the meeting, he told the Democrat he is ready to move on from comments that he previously acknowledged were a distraction from the district’s work.
“I’m just ready to move on, I got bigger fish to fry,” he told the Tallahassee Democrat after the meeting. “We got teacher salaries to deal with and saving the Head Start program and the support and uplift of Title I schools. I’ve got an enviable legacy of which I am proud so they can say what they want to say.”
Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter/X: @AlaijahBrown3.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon School Board member’s Charlie Kirk comment draws flood of criticism, defenders
Reporting by Alaijah Brown, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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