Topics covered at the meeting included textbook content, with a number of people making claims that the school board was pushing Critical Race Theory and social-emotional learning. They also referenced the parental rights bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis banning sexual orientation and gender identity instruction in kindergarten through third grade that others have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” One parent carried a sign calling for the removal of school board chair Jane Goodwin.
The situation escalated as more people became agitated and demanded the opportunity to speak, claiming they had been passed over.
Vice-Chair of the Sarasota School Board, Tom Edwards, who had already moved the meeting into board business, gave two verbal warnings.
“This is the business of the School Board,” Edwards loudly warned the crowd. “If it’s disrupted one more time, I will clear the room, and we'll finish our business, the business of the School Board, and I will re-invite you all back in for general comments. So, it’s up to you how we proceed.”
Then, two five-minute recesses later, he cleared the meeting of all spectators.
“We are done,” Edwards said in a booming voice. “Clear the room.”
However, a number of people elected to stay in their seats.
One parent who refused to leave because she was on the list to speak was Michelle Pozzie. She told reporters that the board intentionally moved her speaking slot from the line.
“We’re not on the same level as them,” Pozzie said. “They’ve forgotten that they work for us. They’ve forgotten that we elect them to represent us. They’ve forgotten where the power lies.”
Pozzie, a “regular attendee of board meetings,” said she would be back.
“We’re not going anywhere,” she said. “We’re going to be heard, and we’re going to be the change we want to see on the board.”
The meeting adjourned 20 minutes later after the official business of the board was completed.
Edwards told reporters that the room-clearing was not to restrict free speech but was about “maintaining order.”
He said the board “moved some agenda-based public comment tickets into the general comment section” as some of them were filled out incorrectly or were not clear.
Board member Bridget Ziegler said the board needs to hear the people’s concerns.
“I want to get the important work of the board done,” Ziegler told reporters after the meeting. “Part of that is certainly hearing from the public, all of our stakeholders, whether it be parents or students or staff or just taxpayers in general. I think it’s very important that we give them the opportunity to speak.”
“The crowd’s frustrations stem from some on the board not taking their concerns seriously, interrupting speakers, and creating a toxic environment,” she said.
Another parent, John Wilson, said the speaking cards were shuffled and that the board had “no one to blame but themselves” for the crowd’s disruption.
Edwards “didn’t like the reaction from his actions,” Wilson said. “And this is where we’re at. Everybody was already irritated.”
“I want to be crystal clear to my constituents,” the sheriff says in the video. “The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office would never participate in preventing a citizen from expressing their First Amendment rights during public comment.”
