Sarasota’s vice-chair of the school board, Tom Edwards, proudly boasted that there are school board members “waking” and “working inside” to indoctrinate students. He made these remarks before the August 23 primary when voters have the chance to flip the board in favor pro-parents/pro-students conservatives.
Edwards proudly stated, “Here, in Florida, there are School Board members that are awake,” during Wednesday’s “Support Our Schools!” event.
“We are here. We are working to have your back. He continued, exclaiming that you need to know that we have your backs.
“And we are working in the most strategic spot because it is inside, or from the inside. It’s been less than two years for me to gain credibility and trust. It’s a slow and tedious process. Edwards said that he wasn’t the only one in Florida, and added that there are many coalitions “formed for protection.”
He went on, apparently lamenting that not enough teachers and administrators have accepted the DeSantis administration’s pro-student and pro-parent standards. He said that school board members like himself “no longer accept” it.
These remarks were made at the community forums, which were described as an event that featured education professionals giving “an overview of new curriculum that clearly seeks whitewashing our history.”
Bridget Ziegler (DeSantis-backed school board member), wife of Christian Ziegler Republican Party of Florida Vice Chairman, is one of those on the school board. She told Breitbart News Edwards is one of those who demonizes parents because they voice their frustrations.
She said that Tom Edwards and Radical LiberalActivists promote a narrative blaming parents, claim indoctrination doesn’t happen, and label frustrated parents who fight to protect their children as ‘domestic terrorists’.
In an attempt to fool the public, he and his radical activists claim to be part the’moderate majority. She added that he is out there bragging about being WOKE, strategic, and working on the inside’ to create Coalitions to further his WOKE Agenda.
Ziegler spoke out in March to Breitbart News. He explained that leftist school board members in all 50 states follow a similar playbook in order to push their radical agendas in an effort to keep control of the education sector.
“When you stand up and get elected, you automatically become a member of this association. They tell you that your job it is to support the superintendent. It’s not about protecting, supporting or representing taxpayers, or focusing on financial stewardship.
Breitbart News Saturday later learned that she had a playbook and that the same playbook is used in all parts of the country.
She continued, “It’s largely about indoctrinating local officials all the way down [given] to educators and that trickles down into indoctrinating students with a very left-leaning, progressive agenda.”
Sarasota’s school board race is a particularly interesting one, because it offers voters the chance to flip the board. Three of the five county school board seats are up, Ziegler’s included.
Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis published a list of endorsements to school boards in Florida. He praised them for putting students and parents first and fighting against Critical Race Theory and radical gender ideology being introduced into schools. Ziegler and Robyn Marinelli were among his endorsements for Sarasota.
