Perhaps the most encouraging news of this sizzling summer arrives this week, when Peggy Jones – arguably the most qualified and committed School Board member in the county’s 98-year history – announces she will seek a second term.
Without question, she has earned our vote.
Her nonpartisan performance on and off the dais has risen beyond anything we’ve seen in recent years, exemplifying all of the attributes we could want in a locally elected official, particularly one who plays such a pivotal role in shaping our future.
And she has been at her best in the nine months since her peers chose her to serve as board chair, where she has relied on her vast experience and institutional knowledge to make sure concocted culture-war distractions don’t derail the school district’s mission.
Jones remains laser-focused on improving both the quality of education offered in our public schools and student achievement, which is exactly what we should expect from a former teacher, dean and principal.
“I invest a lot of time in this job, and sometimes I spread myself pretty thin, but if I didn’t think I could be an asset, I wouldn’t run,” Jones, 70, said last week. “I’ve been in public education for almost 50 years. I don’t need to do this. I want to do this.”
Be grateful that she does.
Truth is, we need Jones far more than she needs this $38,000-per-year job – and we’ve never needed her more than we do now, as the fierce politicization of public education in Tallahassee continues to drive away teachers and threatens the future of our school system.
Over the past three years, the state has continued to impose its will on school districts, wresting control from local communities through mandates impacting policy, practice and curriculum.
Public education in Florida has become so political, in fact, that Gov. Ron DeSantis not only endorsed school board candidates in last year’s elections, but he has since published a list of 14 incumbents he is targeting for defeat in 2024, alleging they failed to protect parental rights and didn’t shield students from “woke” ideologies.
Jones is on that list, as is fellow School Board member Brian Barefoot, a lifelong Republican and former Indian River Shores mayor.
The reason?
Both dared to act in the best interests of our students, teachers and community by voting to temporarily impose on-campus mask mandates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, after two teachers died and the district was forced to close schools because there weren’t enough staffers to cover the classrooms.
They did what they should have done – what we elected them to do – and the governor didn’t like it.
My guess is, the governor isn’t going to be thrilled with Jones’ response to the latest state mandate, either.
By now, you’ve probably heard that the Florida Board of Education, as part of the new African-American history standards it approved last month, is requiring public schools to teach that some Black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful work skills.
The wrongheadedness of such a dishonest standard, which clearly-but-feebly attempts to diminish the pain, suffering and generational damage inflicted by America’s original sin, should be obvious to any right-thinking person.
Can you imagine a Black middle-school student sitting in a classroom and being taught that slavery had its good points?
Can you imagine a Black middle-school teacher being forced to present such a lesson in her classroom?
Better yet: Can you imagine the racial tensions and harsh feelings teaching such divisive nonsense is likely to stir in classrooms across the state?
Jones can.
That’s why on Aug. 1 she sent Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. a letter expressing “great concern” and asking that the standard be removed because, she wrote, “I do not think any African-American family in America really believes what their ancestors were forced to do, or, in many cases, sold to do, was any kind of choice.”
She went on to state that it is “preposterous” to refer to the slaves’ work as duties, adding that they were “beaten, lynched, raped or (subject to) any number of other inhumane treatments” if they disobeyed their owners.
In the letter, which she stated represented her opinion and not that of our school board, Jones said: “Sadly, this is now political, and people will stand in their corners. But know that most people think this (standard) is terribly wrong for many reasons.”
Jones also questioned the “honesty” of the standard and disagreed with Diaz’s claim that it would benefit students, writing, “This is harmful because we are not telling the truth.”
She called the implementation of such a twisted standard an “embarrassing mark on our state,” and sent a copy of her letter to DeSantis.
It was yet another example of Jones embracing her principles, exhibiting the courage to stand up for what she believes is right, and expressing compassion for those whose voice is so often ignored – virtues that are lacking in too many of today’s supposed leaders.
But will the rest of our School Board follow?
Jones, who attended an NAACP-sponsored gathering in Gifford last week, said she plans to include on the agenda for the board’s Aug. 28 meeting a discussion of the state’s slaves-benefited standard.
“I don’t know if the board will take a position, but, really, we need to get it changed at the state level,” she said. “I can say this, though: I will not support it. And if one of our middle-school teachers says she cannot teach this standard, I will support that teacher.
“I’ll go down swinging on this one.”
Earlier this year, our Jones-led school board complied with a new state mandate to repeal the district’s once-celebrated Racial Equity Policy, which a previous board unanimously approved in early 2020.
The board members did so, however, only after Jones authored a similar policy – a whitewashed version that didn’t contain any verbiage the state says is now verboten – to replace it.
With board members Jackie Rosario and Gene Posca not in attendance at the special-call meeting, Brian Barefoot and Teri Barenborg voted with Jones to approve a new “Safe Respectful and Inclusive Education Policy.”
Local NAACP chapter president Tony Brown applauded Jones’ refusal to abandon the district’s Black parents and students.
“She doesn’t need to be doing this, and she’s ostracized and targeted by some for much of what she does,” Brown said at the time. “The thing is, Peggy didn’t just start doing this last week, or last month, or last year.
“She has embedded herself in this community,” he added. “She has a legacy here. She is the best friend to all the children of this district – and not just the Black and brown children.”
As for blowback from critics, Jones shrugs it off, acknowledging the political climate, divisive rhetoric and sometimes-hostile discourse of these times, when too many people seem incapable respectful disagreement.
She doesn’t like much of what she sees and hears, but she refuses to engage on that level.
“I’m very comfortable with who I am and the positions I’ve taken,” Jones said. “I think I’ve shown that I’m not going to compromise my principles. At the same time, I have always tried to treat people with respect and kindness.
“Besides, being on the school board isn’t the most challenging job I’ve had,” she added. “Try being a high school principal, responsible for 2,000 teenagers every day. If that doesn’t scare you …”
Jones isn’t afraid of the governor, whom she said “doesn’t even know me” and merely got her name from Tiffany Justice, the island resident who co-founded the ultra-conservative Moms For Liberty after serving one tumultuous term as a failed school board member.
Running with no party affiliation, as Jones said “as all school board members should,” she hopes being targeted by DeSantis won’t hinder her re-election chances.
But that’s up to us.
We have someone special here – someone we can trust to always put our kids first, someone we need to champion public education in our community.
If we lose her, we deserve what we get.
