“You’re not a school board in Oakland or Berkeley, okay?”: DeSantis says there will be “consequences” for issues in Alachua County Public Schools

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At a press conference today at the University of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said Alachua County residents will “see some action” on recent incidents such as social media posts by school board members and an administrative complaint that a teacher intentionally exposed a student to unnecessary embarrassment or disparagement.

When asked whether he had anything to say to the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) about recent social media posts by School Board members, DeSantis began by saying that Commissioner of Education Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas is a “pit bull,” and the SBAC “has Stasi’s attention.”

DeSantis said the social media posts were “deplorable” and added, “What they’ve done to these students, the teacher,… this is wrong. And so there’s going to be consequences for all of this. He’s very quick to act, you know.”

DeSantis: “That school district has not covered itself in glory.”

DeSantis continued, “It’s sad to say, because here we are with such an esteemed university, but that school district has not covered itself in glory. It’s like they’re in a different world — you know, you’re a school board, but you’re in the state of Florida, okay? You’re not a school board in Oakland or Berkeley, okay? We have standards, we have certain… rules and regulations that you have to abide by.”

Apparently referring to a Gainesville High School teacher who is under investigation for giving a student a certificate that said he was “Most Likely To Become a Dictator,” DeSantis said, “I know that one teacher is going to be held accountable, and I know that there’s going to be more that happens.”

Referring to social media posts about Charlie Kirk, DeSantis said, “What Charlie was doing was really kind of exposing why it’s important that we have robust debate. You need to graduate from our universities, where your assumptions have been challenged… [If] you never have anyone push back on that, you’re not going to be well-suited to get out, unless you’re in a cocoon for the rest of your life. And there are some areas where you may be able to do that, but that’s not for most people.”

DeSantis said nobody has to agree with Kirk, but “a lot of Americans do… And so to see somebody… set up on top of a building and assassinate him, that is taking intellectual intolerance to a level that we have not seen. And I think it really crossed a very serious line in this society… That was a dark day for this country.”

DeSantis: “To have teachers revel in this across the country, to have nurses revel in this,… that was really a gut punch. We’ve got some problems.”

DeSantis said it would not be unexpected to see Antifa celebrating Kirk’s assassination, “but to have teachers revel in this across the country, to have nurses revel in this, have people that are in major arteries of our society expressing — that was really a gut punch. We’ve got some problems.”

DeSantis: “Do I want a teacher in the classroom whose response to that is to glorify it and celebrate it? No, I don’t want that person teaching our kids.”

DeSantis continued, “Are you gonna get put in jail because you celebrated his assassination? You’re not going to be put in jail under the First Amendment. But can we as a society, and me as a governor, look and say — You know what, I’ve got young kids. Do I want a teacher in the classroom whose response to that is to glorify it and celebrate it? No, I don’t want that person teaching our kids.”

DeSantis: “Stasi is on the case.”

Pointing out that Charlie Kirk was 31 years old and had a wife and two children, DeSantis said that when teachers and school board members refuse to condemn political violence, “it’s taking political disagreements and really creating a toxic atmosphere, that you would revel in that… If you didn’t agree with them, you don’t have to be something you’re not, but when that stuff comes out, and the way it came out in normal segments of American society, that was disappointing… So the teachers, these people there, all I can say is, you know, Stasi is on the case, and I might imagine you’re going to see some action in at least some of those areas.”