SARASOTA — Talk of how far the First Amendment can protect a person’s freedom of speech came to a head this week during public comment at the Sarasota County School Board meeting.
The Tuesday evening meeting included multiple outbursts and interruptions causing Board member Robyn Marinelli to threaten ejection.
John Wilson, a Sarasota resident, addressed his concerns with transgender policies, staff sensitivity training and Black Lives Matter during general comment.
During his comments, Wilson criticized former Board member Jane Goodwin’s decision to add transgender guidelines for the district, saying it introduced inappropriate material to his children.
“If my kindergartener wanted to say he’s a girl, the school district didn’t have to tell him no. Are you kidding me? Like, for real?” Wilson asked. “Now we see George Floyd, drug addict, and BLM on the school district computers for my first-grader.”
After the buzzer went off to signal his 3 minutes were up for public input, Wilson continued to speak, his focus on Board member Tom Edwards.
He accused Edwards of looking “happy to see gay children” in a previous broadcast media interview — and then Wilson took aim at Edwards’ personal life.
“I don’t think you and your husband can have any children,” Wilson said.
When residents at the meeting began to protest the comment, Wilson turned to address them the same way.
“You don’t like it. I don’t care anyway,” Wilson said.
After Board member Tim Enos told Wilson to stop addressing the audience — which is against the Board’s public comment policy — Wilson grabbed his items from his chair.
Before he was escorted out by district Police Chief Jacob Ruiz, Wilson poured out his drink on the floor. It wasn’t clear if Wilson did it on purpose or if it was an accident.
India Miller, a Sarasota resident who identifies as a transgender woman, spoke from her seat to say Wilson’s actions “were not OK.”
“It’s taken care of,” Enos replied.
During her turn for public comment, Miller said Board Chair Karen Rose personally harassed her gender identity online in a “brutal” public post.
According to Miller, the night of the election, Rose posted to her Facebook a personal attack aimed at Miller by calling her “a man in a dress.”
The Daily Sun was unable to confirm the allegation. Reached by phone on Thursday, Rose said Miller’s allegation was a “blatant lie.”
“I have not made any post about India Miller or any other transgender,” Rose said.
During public comment, Miller wanted consequences.
“To be mocked by the chair of our School Board, to be mocked by Bridget Ziegler … when I’m a woman born with a defect of being in a man’s body is cruel, is fireable, and Karen should be forced to immediately resign her position,” Miller said.
School Board member Bridget Ziegler has made her stance on transgender rights public by posing in an anti-transgender shirt on social media last year and proposing an anti-Title IX resolution against the Biden administration’s “gender fluidity” addendum.
Miller requested an apology from the district, Ziegler’s removal and Rose’s resignation before asking Enos to lead the demand for their replacements in Tallahassee.
Freedom of speech; fear of safetyDuring ending comments, Board member Robyn Marinelli was the only member to directly respond to Miller.
“If anybody’s going to be removed from the boardroom for something … then it’s got to be equal for all,” Marinelli said.
Miller interrupted Marinelli’s comments to say she feared for her safety, to which Enos asked Miller stop speaking out of turn.
Marinelli asked Enos to remove Miller, prompting district police to usher Miller out as she continued to speak out of turn.
Miller requested an escort to her car for safety reasons as she walked out willingly.
Marinelli continued on, stating safety was “paramount for everybody” and the only way to ensure it would be through less negative rhetoric.
“If we really want to work and unite everybody for the best education for our students, it needs to stop,” Marinelli said.
In the past, residents have made public comments addressed to Board members’ personal lives — like the Ziegler sex scandal and Rose’s husband’s online behavior — technically not against Board policy.
According to Policy 2.222, speakers cannot make remarks that are “abusive, threatening, obscene, profane or disorderly in nature.”
However, there is no verbiage that strictly prohibits residents from personally addressing a Board member’s personal life.
The public comment policy also does not expand on what it considers “abusive” or “disorderly in nature,” leaving decisions to dismiss or punish up to the Board chair.
Difference in speech? During Tuesday’s meeting, Board Chair Karen Rose was physically absent again. She joined the meeting by Zoom on Tuesday.
Marinelli said Rose should be able to do so without criticism, as other Board members have used virtual tools to participate in past meetings.
“You’re really there just to cast your votes,” Marinelli told The Daily Sun.
Marinelli told The Daily Sun on Thursday where she draws the line when it comes to freedom of speech at the podium.
Marinelli said she would start referring to the Board’s attorney, Patrick Duggan, to crack down on public comment rule breakers.
“When you talk about somebody’s spouse or their children or their siblings, I think that is the line and, and just really, just basically saying (something) very demeaning,” Marinelli said.
As for Miller’s repeated requests for Rose and Ziegler to step down for their remarks against the transgender community, Marinelli was unsure on her stance.
While she agreed respect should extend to all members of the community, Marinelli said she did not know what could be done about Rose and Ziegler’s comments.
“That’s a fine line,” Marinelli said. “What you say during an election is totally different than what you say in the Board room.”
Marinelli recalled her own candidacy for the School Board, stating PACs had posted flyers around the community without her knowledge on topics she had not publicly shared a stance on.
Marinelli named two others to blame for reoccurring outbursts in the Board room.
“What I have very little tolerance for is something that somebody might say and another person or the media will take it and blow it way out of proportion,” Marinelli said.
Marinelli was unable to give a specific example.
Marinelli stated she does “regret not speaking up” about personal attacks toward her fellow Board members during public comment when she was first elected to the School Board.
She said she has received death threats in the past, including statements like “I wish you would die” and “you need to be sent to an Islamic country.”
Marinelli said she received another demeaning email after speaking up at the meeting, but she is still determined to move forward.
In the future, she said, she wants to workshop clarifications to the public comment policy so residents understand what should not be said during the meeting.
Marinelli said she will also start calling point of order more often and referring to the Board’s attorney when a speaker’s comments start to cross the line.
“The comments I hear, I’d never allow this in my classroom,” Marinelli said. “I don’t care what your sexual orientation is, what your religion, what the color of your skin is, whatever. Everybody should be treated with respect. Period.”
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