How Did the Toxic Ones End Up in Charge of Education in Florida?

This is sort of a continuation of https://substack.com/home/post/p-171754870

Florida’s public education system is hanging on only because teachers, staff, and support workers refuse to give up. They show up every day despite low pay, overcrowded classrooms, and relentless political interference. Meanwhile, the people at the top are fixated on punishing dissent instead of solving the crises they’re paid to address. The Board of Education and local boards should be focused on solving the underfunding and overcrowding crises that plague Florida’s classrooms, not scouring social media for people to shame. How did we end up with such toxic leadership, more interested in control than actually supporting education?

When Commissioner Anastasios “Stassi” Kamoutsas came to St. Augustine for the August State Board of Education meeting, he came ready to prove a point. According to a Gainesville Sun report, he used the meeting to publicly scold the Alachua County School Board, chastising them over Facebook comments and local disputes rather than addressing the district’s real needs. He sanctioned Alachua school board member Sarah Rockwell and berated fellow school board member Tina Certain, turning what should have been a discussion about education into a public spectacle of intimidation and arrogance.

Rockwell’s so-called “offense” was a short Facebook post about Hulk Hogan’s death—one she had already apologized for. Yet Kamoutsas dragged her before the board anyway, determined to make an example out of her. Now, Tina Certain faces another hearing in November over a personal post about Charlie Kirk. It’s no coincidence that Alachua County also happens to be the most Democratic-leaning school board in Florida. The message from the top is unmistakable: challenge their agenda and you’ll be punished, because free speech only applies to those who echo their beliefs.

In Jacksonville, Hope McMath, a respected AP art teacher and pillar of the community, was suspended over personal Facebook comments following Kirk’s death. As reported by First Coast News, parents, students, and advocates packed a Duval County School Board meeting demanding her reinstatement. But the very next day, Kamoutsas doubled down, filing a formal complaint accusing McMath of “gross immorality” and violating the state’s code of conduct. The complaint even suggested penalties such as suspension or revocation of her teaching certificate, all for expressing her own views online. Under Kamoutsas, leadership looks like a commissioner spending his time chasing teachers’ social media posts while Florida’s Public Schools are neglected, depleted and desperate for resources.

At that same Duval meeting, four board members wore matching pink shirts reading “This Is the Turning Point” a nod to Charlie Kirk’s organization while the public pleaded for fairness. DCPS board member April Carney about leapt from her chair shouting and defending Charlie Kirk after a parent in the audience said something. Why should citizens be expected to maintain decorum when the board itself behaves like this?

Florida’s Board of Education has become a model of everything wrong with leadership—arrogant, vindictive, and out of touch. While they waste time policing speech, classrooms are overcrowded, teachers underpaid, and buses delayed. The people at the top have turned education into a political weapon aimed at those who actually make schools work.

Teachers don’t need watchdogs. They need funding, respect, and the freedom to speak the truth. When those driven by politics and ego run the system, it stops being education and becomes manipulation. School board members who dare to think differently have targets on their backs.

Instead of attacking educators for exercising free speech, Florida’s leaders should be fixing the mess they created—or step aside. They’ve turned our education system into a toxic display of arrogance and control. These board members have no business overseeing public education or making decisions that shape the future of our schools.

P.S. It’s worth noting that at that August State Board of Education meeting, Kamoutsas publicly gave April Carney a shout out. No other board members that attended.