A conservative member of the school board reacted to a liberal colleague trying to silence a parent at a Florida school board meeting on Tuesday.
Bridget Ziegler confronted Jane Goodwin, chair of the Sarasota County Schools Board, when Goodwin criticized Melissa Bakondy’s speech. The Daily Mail reported that Goodwin was angry at Bakondy.
Bakondy, who was standing behind the podium to voice his grievance about a policy regarding recording parent-teacher meetings, began by saying that a board member had been “caught on microphone” at the previous meeting.
Goodwin intervened, saying, “Stop talking to school board members.”
Goodwin, who is the head of the board’s liberal majority claimed that the woman was about to make a horrible comment about Shirley Brown. … You have made untrue statements about me. Leave, please.”
Sarasota County Schools uploaded video footage of the meeting, which featured the exchange. Officers were seen surrounding Bakondy while she was at the podium.
Bakondy asked Goodwin if she had any children in the area, and Ziegler, a conservative member, spoke up.
“That is inappropriate. … It is not appropriate to ask people at a public meeting if they have children. Period. Ziegler declared, “You are way out of your line.”
Bakondy walked away from the podium, and was soon followed by officers.
Bakondy’s remarks were not immediately obvious, but the Mail report indicates that she has spoken out about social issues online.
Ziegler posted a Facebook post on Friday calling the incident “outrageous” and saying that it made her feel sad.
This is not the way government works. Our school district is funded by tax payers, and our customers are parents. All of them have the right to be heard. She said that elected officials need to know that receiving feedback, both positive and negatively, is an essential part of their job.”
Ziegler stated, “If they don’t like it they shouldn’t have ran for office and should consider resignation,” and he has been fighting radical left at the local level ever since it was first on the national radar.
