“It’s a toxic culture, and it needs to change”: State Board of Education votes to monitor SBAC for a year

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – At today’s State Board of Education meeting in St. Augustine, the Board voted to require the School Board of Alachua County to provide training to board members and demonstrate compliance with the First Amendment rights of parents; the Department of Education will monitor the district for all of the 2025-26 school year.

Authority of the State Board of Education

David Chappell, General Counsel for the Florida Department of Education, said the Florida Constitution gives the State Board of Education (Board) the authority to supervise Florida’s free system of education, as provided by law. He said there are five steps to the Board’s oversight authority: the Commissioner of Education investigates an allegation; the Commissioner determines whether there is probable cause of noncompliance with state law; the Commissioner reports determinations of probable cause to the Board; the Board may order compliance within a specified period of time if the school district is unable or unwilling to document compliance with the law; and if the district does not document compliance within that period of time, the Board can withhold state funds, report the noncompliance to the state legislature, and require the entity to report to the Commissioner or the Board. 

Three example videos from SBAC meetings

Commissioner of Education Stasi Kamoutsas shared three videos of what he called a “persistent problem” with the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) violating the First Amendment rights of parents and encouraging a hostile environment at school board meetings. Noting that one of the videos included a citizen reading explicit passages from a book that was being challenged, he gave parents time to remove children from the room before proceeding.

The three videos can be seen by going to the 1:32:08 time stamp at this link.

The first video showed the incident from the July 31 SBAC meeting in which Vice Chair Tina Certain, acting as Chair, ordered a citizen removed from the meeting before the Board Attorney intervened and said he could stay. Click here for our article on that incident, which includes video of the incident. The second video showed a citizen reading explicit passages from a book that was being challenged; then-Staff Attorney Susan Seigle did not let him finish because she said he had not submitted the book challenge in time for the book to be placed on her list of books that had been challenged. The third video showed a citizen being removed from a 2021 SBAC meeting by then-Chair Leanetta McNealy for “calling names” (click here for our article describing that incident and others in the same meeting). In this context, the phrase “calling names” was used by McNealy and, later, Chair Diyonne McGraw, to refer to saying the name of any person, including the elected officials on the dais or the Superintendent.

Kamoutsas: “Ordering a speaker to cease talking, or ordering law enforcement personnel to remove a speaker specifically because of a speaker’s viewpoint, is the most egregious violation of the First Amendment and has a chilling effect on the speech of those who share similar viewpoints.”

After showing the videos, Kamoutsas said, “Seeing these moments unfold, I feel outrage, disappointment, and a renewed determination to protect the rights of parents and the well-being of our students… The Alachua County School Board’s pattern of behavior over the last few years clearly fails to protect that sacred [right to free speech] in two ways: first, the Alachua County School Board prevents or restricts citizens from speaking at a public forum in an arbitrary fashion…; second, the subject of today’s inquiry and probable cause finding — the Alachua County School Board specifically and maliciously targeted a conservative viewpoint. Ordering a speaker to cease talking, or ordering law enforcement personnel to remove a speaker specifically because of a speaker’s viewpoint, is the most egregious violation of the First Amendment and has a chilling effect on the speech of those who share similar viewpoints.”

Kamoutsas said Florida Statutes require a school board “to warn a speaker that a continued breach of decorum will result in removal. In these instances, there were no breaches of decorum caused by the speaker that would have warranted a warning, much less a removal. Regardless, the board repeatedly failed to even warn the speakers before immediately ordering their removal.”

Kamoutsas: “This is the moment to restore trust in the Alachua County School board, to reinforce the First Amendment and parents’ rights, promote transparency, and ensure that parents and students are not silenced when they speak up.”

Kamoutsas also said that although Rockwell has a First Amendment right to make comments about Hulk Hogan and MAGA, “celebrating the death of an individual because of their political beliefs is conduct unbecoming of the education profession and a school board member who is entrusted with a leadership role by her community… This is the moment to restore trust in the Alachua County School board, to reinforce the First Amendment and parents’ rights, promote transparency, and ensure that parents and students are not silenced when they speak up.”

Rockwell: “The independent investigator’s report that you received on Friday confirms that our board upheld the First Amendment rights of every single speaker at the July 31 board meeting.”

SBAC Chair Sarah Rockwell, appearing remotely due to her recovery from post-surgical complications, said she agreed that “protecting the First Amendment rights of all individuals is of the utmost importance.” She pointed to the board’s updated public input policy, adopted on July 31, and the recent workshop on First Amendment rights “to ensure the continued fair and consistent application of our public input policy.” She said she could not see the videos that were played, but “the independent investigator’s report that you received on Friday confirms that our board upheld the First Amendment rights of every single speaker at the July 31 board meeting.”

Summary of the investigative report

Alachua Chronicle received a copy of the report today, in response to a public records request. The investigator reported that he was provided with a video of the July 31 meeting, an August 1 letter from Kamoutsas, a citizen video from the meeting, and an article published in the Independent Florida Alligator. He interviewed seven witnesses, and two of the names are redacted in the report — Vice Chair Tina Certain and Security and School Safety Chief Douglas Pelton. The investigator noted that he did not interview the man who was ordered removed, Jeremy Clepper, “to avoid the perception or allegation of witness intimidation.” The report, issued August 15, appears to have been hastily issued, with the investigator using “constituent” for “consistent” in one place and using inconsistent and incorrect spellings for several board members’ names. 

The investigator wrote, “After careful consideration of the video and audio evidence, and the corroborated witness statements, it appears [Kamoutsas’s letter’s] allegations regarding Dr. Rockwell and the Board’s handling of the speaker’s conservative viewpoint contains numerous misperceptions of fact.” He wrote there was “no evidence… to suggest Dr. Rockwell, acting chair Tina Certain, or any Board members took adverse action against those expressing conservative views nor were any content-based restrictions placed on the speakers.” 

Despite video evidence that deputies approached Clepper’s seat and began escorting him out of the room before Board Attorney Delaney and Chief Pelton stopped them at the front of the room, the investigator wrote, “There is no evidence law enforcement threatened Mr. Clepper with removal.”

The investigator concluded, “On balance, the weight of the evidence establishes the Board, including Chair Rockwell and [Vice Chair Certain], neither violated the rights of any speaker based on the content of their speech nor sat idly by while another violated parental rights.”

Click here to see the investigative report. 

Rockwell said she “immediately intervened on the speaker’s behalf”

Rockwell pointed out that she was not chairing the July 31 meeting, but Vice Chair Tina Certain ensured that “every speaker at that meeting got their fully allotted time. In fact, Ms. Certain further protected the rights of the speaker in question by warning the audience against interrupting him. The speaker continued to speak to the audience while walking back to his seat after he completed his comments, causing a disruption that interefered with the continuation of our board meeting.” Rockwell said that, although this was not captured in the meeting audio or video, she “immediately intervened on the speaker’s behalf” after Certain ordered deputies to remove him. 

Certain: “At no point were his constitutional rights to speak suppressed, and at no point was he punished for the content of his remarks.”

Certain also spoke and was given more time than her allotted three minutes because her voice is “compromised… I’m dealing with a health issue, myself.” She said there were “significant mischaracterizations” of the events at the July 31 meeting: she said that the speaker “was allowed to use his full two minutes to express his personal views, many of which were sharply critical of the board members. When the audience began to interrupt him, I said to the audience, ‘Please allow him to speak. Don’t interrupt him.’… He was not silenced. He was not removed during or immediately after his comments… There were two prior interruptions and outbursts by Mr. Clepper in the meeting. During the public hearing,… Mr. Clepper yelled out at inappropriate times, twice, about it being public comment.” She said that after Clepper spoke, “he started to return to his seat, but he continued to shout hostile remarks directed at Dr. Rockwell… His yelling caused a growing reaction from the audience, creating a disruptive and increasingly tense situation.” 

Certain said it was her responsibility to protect the integrity of the meeting and the safety of the attendees, so she asked the deputy to “intervene in the situation. It was not to silence him from speaking, as his two minutes had already elapsed.” She said the Board Attorney advised her against removing Clepper, so she told the audience he was allowed to stay, “which further seemed to inflame the situation,” and Clepper “ultimately chose to leave during the recess, of his own accord. At no point were his constitutional rights to speak suppressed, and at no point was he punished for the content of his remarks.”

Certain: During the recess, “the entire board left the dais, and the meeting was under the control of our Chief of Security,… the deputies, and the staff that were in the room… I was not in the room when all of that commotion was going on.”

Kamoutsas asked the Board if they had any questions, and Certain was asked about the woman who yelled, “Get the hell out! Get the hell out!” at the July 31 meeting; Certain said that was “during the recess,” and the board was not on the dais, “so I can’t vouch for anything that was during the recess; the entire board left the dais, and the meeting was under the control of our Chief of Security,… the deputies, and the staff that were in the room… I was not in the room when all of that commotion was going on.”

Board questions for Certain and Rockwell

Board Member MaryLynn Magar asked Rockwell what she would say to parents who “were afraid to speak after the outburst and after the gentleman was attempted to be removed,” and  Rockwell said she had already made two public apologies for her comment, “and I’m not going to speak to that again because that is my personally protected speech that was not made in my public capacity. All of the parents who came to speak that night were given the opportunity to speak; nobody who had signed up chose not to speak.”

Rockwell said the disruption “was the speaker — as he walked back to his seat, he was engaging with other audience members, and it was preventing the next speaker from having his time… I still intervened to not have him removed, because I thought that another warning was warranted.” She said she did not have an opportunity to respond to what happened during the recess and didn’t even know about it until she reviewed the video the next day.

Board Vice Chair Esther Byrd asked some questions about the independent investigation and noted that the investigator wrote, “It is noteworthy that the crowd was overwhelmingly in support of the Board and opposed Mr. Clepper’s comments.” Byrd asked, “Why is that relevant to the third-party investigation?” Certain said Byrd would need to ask the author of the report.

When asked by Byrd whether she would do anything differently, Certain said she would “warn [the citizens] very specifically, remind them of our policy, and tell them the meeting is open for you to come and participate during the appropriate time, but disruptions would not be allowed.”

Rockwell on resigning: “I am a duly elected representative in my county. I won my election by an overwhelming majority. There will be another election [next August], and the voters can decide then.”

When asked by Member Kelly Garcia what she would say to parents who think she should resign, Rockwell said, “I am a duly elected representative in my county. I won my election by an overwhelming majority. There will be another election [next August], and the voters can decide then.”

Member Daniel Foganholi noted that it was “a little odd” that the investigative report didn’t include Rockwell’s original Facebook post; the investigator wrote that his investigation “was limited to the allegations of misconduct occurring during the School Board Meeting.”

Byrd said she wanted “to make sure we don’t lose sight of the fact that this is about more than just this one school board meeting; it’s a pattern of behavior on the part of the Alachua County School Board.” She asked whether Certain agreed with the removal of the man in 2021 for “calling names,” and Certain said there were times when she didn’t agree with the Chair and that she had “leaned over” several times “and tried to give advice.” 

Certain also said the book read by the man in the second video had been removed; although the book is no longer showing in the district’s library catalog, it was there as recently as June, and the book, “The Kid,” by Sapphire, does not appear on the district’s book challenge list.

Chair Ryan Petty asked Certain whether Clepper was the only person who was speaking out as he returned to his seat, and Certain said, “He was who I heard.”

Member Layla Collins said her concern was, “With the dynamics of what leadership has created there, will parents ever feel equally able to come in and voice their opinion?” 

Certain: “We ran in a nonpartisan race, and I haven’t brought politics in. My colleague, Dr. Rockwell, hasn’t brought politics in. We are elected school board members who are elected in nonpartisan races, and we have tried to represent everyone and make everyone feel welcome.”

Certain said, “We ran in a nonpartisan race, and I haven’t brought politics in. My colleague, Dr. Rockwell, hasn’t brought politics in. We are elected school board members who are elected in nonpartisan races, and we have tried to represent everyone and make everyone feel welcome… Just as you said you believe in First Amendment rights, I share that.”

Public comment

Members of the public were given one minute each to speak, and 17 people spoke in strong support of Rockwell and the SBAC; four people spoke in favor of sanctioning the SBAC. 

SBAC Member Thomas Vu read from the rules for the Board of Education’s meeting and said SBAC’s rules are the same; he said he thought “the Chair and the Vice Chair went through this very thoroughly, that Mr. Clepper was afforded every possible grace, and even in the end, when… the person overseeing the meeting thought it rose to the point of dismissal again, was given grace to stay.” Chair Petty responded, “Mr. Vu, actually some of your comments during the meeting were quite inflammatory during the situation, so I will point that out.”

One woman said that when Clepper spoke at the July 31 meeting, “it was hard to not at least murmur our disagreement.”

Crystal Marull said, “This school district is toxic for conservative families, and you can see exactly why they don’t want to show up at school board meetings and speak out.” She said Certain had “misrepresented herself” at least twice: when she said the man reading from the book was allowed to speak for his full time (there is clearly time left on the clock in the video) and when she said the book was removed, implying that it was removed at the time it was challenged. The video was from April 2, 2024, and the book was removed some time after June 5, 2025. 

Newberry Mayor Tim Marden said, “You all are completely over the target here, 100%… The reason there are not more conservatives in that room is because of the toxic environment that has been created in and outside of these meetings… This is just the tip of the iceberg, and I don’t believe sanctions are enough. I think you should go further and use any authority that you have.”

Debbie Savage said that by “amplifying Mr. Clepper’s speech with social media reposts and obvious bias in ignoring the very real threats against Dr. Rockwell, the Department appears to favor one viewpoint over another, undermining the neutrality required of public institutions.” Another woman said she thought the Board of Education was “intentionally trying to humiliate” people “with differing beliefs.”

Jeremy Clepper said he believed Certain “incited the mob… by telling them to kick me out.” He said that although people claimed he threatened Rockwell, he never threatened her or approached her. After asking for additional time and being told he had one minute like everyone else, he concluded, “I wish I could address the things that were said that strictly aren’t true.”

Kamoutsas: “It’s clearly a culture. It’s a toxic culture, and it needs to change, and that’s why we’re bringing accountability here today.”

After public input, Kamoutsas said the “crowd acted very similarly, though much more restrained, as they did in the Alachua County School Board that night. It’s clearly a culture. It’s a toxic culture, and it needs to change, and that’s why we’re bringing accountability here today.”

Kamoutsas pointed out that Certain said she would have done things differently in all three of the examples shown on video: “School board members cannot sit idly by while one Chair dominates the meetings. That is why it is a board.”

He recommended that the Board find probable cause “for an environment that does not uphold the First Amendment in Alachua County.”

Commissioner’s recommendation

Kamoutsas recommended that the Board find that there was a First Amendment violation and give SBAC a specified period of time to demonstrate compliance and provide training for each school board member and then monitor the SBAC for the entire 2025-26 school year “to ensure there is not another violation of First Amendment rights for parents in that district. If there is, then the recommendation is that the Board issue automatic sanctions that include a report to the legislature; a weekly report to the Department of Education, explaining how the district intends to correct the failures in upholding the First Amendment rights of parents within the district; and withholding funds from the district equal to their salaries if any of those provisions are violated.

In response to questions from the Board, Kamoutsas clarified that if a violation is found, the Department of Education will send an email to the district, specifying the violation, and “at that point in time, we would automatically withhold those salaries and we would address it at the subsequent State Board of Education meeting.”

Kamoutsas also clarified that SBAC would demonstrate compliance with the policy and the training by sending a letter from their attorney.

The Board voted unanimously to accept the Commissioner’s recommendation.