School districts rightly stand up to bullying by DeSantis

This state has declared eight school boards lawbreakers, and not one is backing down. Good for them. So what is this tough-talking governor going to do about it?

TALLAHASSEE — Bullies prefer to lurk in the shadows.

So you could not actually watch the orchestrated actions of the Florida Board of Education Thursday as it punished eight school districts for requiring students to wear masks. Those found guilty included Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — three of the biggest districts in the country.

Under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ iron hand, the board became judge, jury and executioner. But it had to be done on a conference call by phone. You know, COVID-19 and all.

Wait a minute. If it’s safe for our kids to go to school without masks, why can’t a few bureaucrats meet in public so we can see for ourselves how petty they are? Because bullies are cowards who lurk in the shadows.

One by one, eight school districts were found in violation not of any law, but of a legally suspect emergency rule that bans mask mandates. To listen to the Board of Ed’s machinations, you would think Department of Health Rule No. 64DER21-15 was the Ten Commandments.

That rule was hurriedly adopted last month and signed by a new anti-mask surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, to replace a previous rule with legal defects. The replacement rule faces a legal challenge by school districts as an invalid exercise of the state Legislature’s power. As they argue in their protest, the rule was adopted with no chance for the public to be heard.

Republicans are especially wary of power-hungry bureaucrats who use rulemaking to write laws that legislators never intended, which is what happened here. If Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran were still in the House, where he once ruled as speaker, he’d be screaming bloody murder at this bureaucratic overreach (he once took a swipe at bureaucrats in an

Orlando Sentinel op-ed).

But this is

DeSantis’ Board of Ed, and it’s so nakedly partisan, it ought to be called the Board of Red.

Soon after

Thursday’s show of force — it was more like a show of farce — Corcoran’s Department of Education declared “gross violations of law” by board members in all eight school districts. The others are Alachua, Duval, Leon, Orange and one deep red outlier, Brevard.

“Forced masking is a failure,” he stated, “and these board members have truly failed to lead and failed their oaths of office.”

Corcoran’s missive does not cite any violation of law. The new Parents’ Bill of Rights (HB 241) gets a brief mention, but superintendents noted the law has an exception for “reasonable and necessary” actions in response to “a compelling state interest,” and any reasonable judge would say human life qualifies.

It sounded like the state was building a case to suspend board members from office, but the penalty so far is the loss of salary and an amount equal to the federal grants Broward and Alachua got from the Biden administration to keep mask mandates in place.

A month’s pay for “gross violations of law”? You’re kidding, right?

This state has declared eight school boards lawbreakers, and none of them are backing down. So what is this tough-talking governor going to do about it? (I’m not advocating suspensions, only noting his showmanship — that his words are stronger than his actions).

If you’re part of the vocal minority that despises mask mandates as a violation of your personal freedom, then by now you should ask whether DeSantis has the courage of his convictions. After all, in June, he suspended a school board member (in Alachua, coincidentally) for not living in her district.

Broward School Board member Sarah Leonardi said suspension crosses her mind, but added: “I have to be able to sleep at night knowing I put the safety of kids and employees before my own interests.”

Broward’s board chairman, Dr. Rosalind Osgood, said she doubts DeSantis will suspend board members. “They’re stuck now because there are so many of us,” she said.

In the meantime, the Broward School Board should review its anti-bullying policy as to whether DeSantis, Corcoran and the Board of Ed have violated it. The policy also protects employees and lists several definitions of bullying, including “public or private humiliation.”

Steve Bousquet is editorial page editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or 850-567-2240 and follow him on Twitter @stevebousquet.