Florida School Board Member Brags About Members Being ‘Woke’: We’re ‘Working from the Inside’

Sarasota school board vice chair Tom Edwards this week proudly bragged that there are school board members who are “woke” and “working from the inside” to indoctrinate children, making the remarks ahead of the August 23 primary, as voters have a chance to flip the school board in favor of pro-parents and pro-students conservatives.

“Here in the state of Florida, there are school board members that are woke,” Edwards, speaking at Wednesday’s “Support Our Schools” event, proudly declared.

“We are here. We’re working to be have your back. You need to know we have your backs,” he continued, bragging about how woke school board members are working from the “inside” to advance these radical left agendas.

“And we’re working in the best strategic spot because we’re on the inside or working from the inside. And it’s from my point of view, I’ve spent not quite two years to earn credibility and to earn trust. That is a long, slow process. But I’m not the only one in the state of Florida,” Edwards continued, asserting that there are coalitions “formed to protect.”

He continued, seemingly lamenting that too many teachers and administrators and the “machinery” have accepted all of the pro-students and pro-parent standards embraced by the DeSantis administration. However, he said school board members such as himself are “not accepting” it anymore:

The remarks were made at the community forum, which was described as an event featuring education professionals providing “an overview of the new curriculum that clearly seeks to whitewash our history.”

DeSantis-backed school board member Bridget Ziegler, wife of Republican Party of Florida Vice Chairman Christian Ziegler, is among those on that particular school board and told Breitbart News that Edwards is among those who demonizes parents for voicing their frustrations.

“Tom Edwards and Radical Liberal Activists push a narrative blaming parents for the heated tone at School Board meetings, claim that indoctrination isn’t happening, and call frustrated parents who are fighting to protect their children ‘domestic terrorists,'” she said.

“He and his radical activists proclaim to be part of the ‘moderate majority’ in attempt to fool the public. Meanwhile he’s out there boasting about being WOKE, being strategic and working on the ‘inside’ to form Coalitions to advance his WOKE Agenda,” she added.

In a March interview with Breitbart News, Ziegler, who has remained at the helm of the school board fight prior to the national awakening, explained that leftist school board members across the country adhere to a playbook to roll out their radical agenda items in an attempt to maintain a monopoly in the education sector.

“When you get up there and are elected, you’re automatically part of this association and they tell you that your job is to support the superintendent. [It’s] not about protecting, supporting, representing taxpayers or focus on financial stewardship or … it as very much about no dissenting, very much groupthink, get in line,” she said.

She later told Breitbart News Saturday that “There is a playbook, and, what I think so many people have now realized, as the result of the great parent awakening after COVID, the same playbook that happens in Sarasota County happens across the state and happens across the country.”

“It’s largely based on indoctrinating local policy officials all the way down to professional development [given] to the educators, and that trickles down to indoctrinating our students with a very left, progressive agenda,” she continued.

The Sarasota school board race is of particular interest, as it poses an opportunity for voters to flip the board. Of the five school board seats in the county, three are up, including Ziegler’s.

Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released a list of endorsements for school boards across the Sunshine State, touting them as individuals who will put students and parents first, fighting against Critical Race Theory (CRT) and radical gender ideology being injected into classrooms. His endorsements for Sarasota include Ziegler, as well as Robyn Marinelli and Timothy Enos.