‘You are way out of line!’ School board member blasts bully colleague who removed mom for what she is ‘about to say’

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

A Florida school board meeting played out like a scene in a George Orwell novel when the chair of the board demanded a public speaker leave – not because she was violent or disorderly – but because she believed she was “about to” say something the board member didn’t like.

“At the last meeting, Shirley Brown was caught on the microphone…” Melissa Bakondy said, politely addressing the board before being interrupted by Chairwoman Jane Goodwin.

“Stop talking about school board members,” Goodwin said haughtily. “You’re done.”

“You cannot go and expound on school board members. I’ve told you, I’ve warned you several times,” the Democrat continued dismissively. “You’re done, goodbye.”

Although it sounded like Bakondy’s mic was cut off, she seemed to ask Goodwin the reason for her expulsion.

“You were about to say something horrible about Shirley Brown,” Goodwin said. “You’ve said things about me that were untrue. Leave, please.”

Goodwin persisted in her seemingly unconstitutional leadership over the local board and asked Bakondy “Do you have children in our school district?”

At this point a conservative board member interjected.

“That is not appropriate… You don’t get to ask people who come to a public meeting whether they have children or not. Period,” Board Member Bridget Ziegler said. “You are way out of line.”

A portion of the interaction was posted on social media by the Vice Chairman of the Republican Party Christian Ziegler, husband to the board member who called Goodwin out for her misbehavior.

Although the board wouldn’t hear her, Bakondy aired her grievances against the school board to ABC7.

“I believe my First Amendment rights were trampled on actually,” Bakondy said. “We have the right to petition our government. It doesn’t matter if we criticize them or give them praise, as a public official they should be able to feel criticism and praise.”

But the public evisceration of a polite taxpaying constituent’s First Amendment rights might just be the tip of the iceberg for what some people endure, as some noted on social media.

During the incident, Bakondy was surrounded by three officers with badges and “police” patches on their sleeves. However, the Sarasota Sheriff issued a statement online affirming that his deputies would not participate in such restrictions on citizens’ First Amendment rights.

Ziegler criticized her colleague as being the “queen of no public input” in an interview with Fox News Digital and claimed that Goodwin and her two leftist cronies on the board hoped to crush parents’ right to free speech.

“Every citizen taxpayer and parent has a right to speak at public meetings and share their input,” Bakondy noted. “Ms. Goodwin doesn’t want to hear that. … This is the ultimate form of censorship, and they are destroying our school district, targeting parents and eliminating dissent.”

“I do have four children, and three of them will be going back to public school next year, and after this, I worry that they’re a target,” she said.

Ziegler also slammed Goodwin for her “inappropriate” question about whether Bakondy was a parent since the board is accountable to all taxpayers.

“We work for the people, the people are our bosses, the parents are our customers,” Ziegler said. “And it’s interesting when it comes to collecting taxes, it doesn’t seem like these qualifying questions are asked.”

“[Taxpayers] pay our salaries, they pay the money to run and operate the entire district and educate our students, and for them to be met with disdain and in such a hostile way is disgusting and very frustrating,” she added.

In March, public comment rules were enacted in Sarasota County that limited the ability of the public to participate in the public forum by reducing comments from three minutes to two minutes and forcing comments to be held to the end of the meeting.

The board debated the new rules for several months – and Ziegler voted against them – although they ultimately passed with a 3-2 vote.

Conservative board member Karen Rose told Fox News Digital that the board “spent four or five months, maybe more, on various reiterations of how to amend the public comment policy. If that doesn’t illustrate how out of touch their role is and what their job is to serve the public, I don’t know what is.”

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

30 thoughts on “‘You are way out of line!’ School board member blasts bully colleague who removed mom for what she is ‘about to say’

  1. So your taxes pay for the schools and HER SALARY but she apparently believes you are not allowed to speak if you don’t have a child in the school system or may criticize her? Orwell was very prescient.

  2. Restrictions of speech and limiting your time to speak, is censorship. Violation of the first Amendment, federal crime. File a complaint with DOJ and sue in federal court, violation of your civil rights! Just because someone is elected, doesn’t exempt them from the law! The so called “rent a cops” have no authority to man handle anyone. They can be charged with assault, also a crime.

  3. First, you do not have to have a child in the school system. As long as you live in that school district YOUR TAXES PAY FOR THAT SCHOOL!!!!
    Second, the school board member needs to be sued, and any Fines need to come out oF HER pocket, not the school district.
    Third (and this is the big one), EVERYONE NEEDS TO WAKE UP AND VOTE THIS TRASH OUT, AND CAFULLY VET EVERYONE VOTED IN. TAKE BACK OUR SCHOOLS!!!!
    MAGAA Trump 2024 (or sooner)

  4. It all began decades ago. The wife had to go back to work to help the family survive. There was no time for PTA’s. No time for parent teacher conferences. Just no time to get involved. This today is where that neglect got us. Schools no longer educate, they indoctrinate. They re taught things in the 3rd grade that most adults couldn’t handle. We have lost control of our children’s education. SAD!

  5. All you can really say is that they got what they voted for. They’d better start understanding what kind of people they are allowing to eventually affect their children and thus the future of America.

  6. Just look at those filthy cops violating that woman’s free speech while carrying water for the these f’ed up dems.

    Remember this when the next Civil War starts! These f’ing cops are not loyal to this country or the Constitution. Morons…

  7. I think it’s time lawyers are hired and board members are sued for Constitutional Infrigment

  8. Who KNEW that local school boards were stocked with so many LITTLE TYRANTS?? Parents need to get to those board meetings and PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN!!

  9. This screams for legal action.. Talk about the “thought police…” Is the Board Chair and/or the cops psychic? They better prove it, if she lawyers up…

  10. The woman that was silenced and removed needs to lawyer up and 1st sue the township and secondly to sue the harridan that had her removed. This is definitely a win for her.

  11. Need to look at the ability of the authorizing agency to remove leader authority in favor of another member of the board.

  12. Another example of an old bitty that needs to retire. Just like Pelosi and other women and men at the federal level.

  13. Florida does not ask you if you have children in school before they send you a massive school tax bill. If you own property, you pay big time regardless of how many if any children you have.

  14. Pretty Tyrants, that’s what Democrat School Board Members are No More No Less! Every Democrat Thinks They are Accountable to No One! It’s a Mental Defect They All Share!

  15. Democrats have had it their way for so long, that they can’t handle citizens speaking out in opposition. This chairwoman should be stripped of her title. The days of watching democrats tear down our society, our form of government and indoctrinating our kids to be commies and queers…..are over.

    1. Randy Weingarten needs to be removed. She is why the schools are not teaching kids the basics and indoctrinating/grooming the kids.

  16. I do not understand how these school boards think they are dictators and can boss, demean and arrest parents. It’s absolutely disgusting what is happening in our culture. I would sue the school board, the city , the schools, the police and especially the board member herself. The common theme with all these school boards and problems is liberal democrats. The party is a cancer to children and families. What’s worse is these are usually parents themselves who condone policies that are detrimental to children.

  17. These petty dictatorships are springing up more and more. Those revolving around our education system have far reaching effects especially on current and future generations. The board and subsequent teachers think parents should stay out and not comment. Not just this particular district but across the country and it is time to reverse the trend!!

    1. The local edicts issued by Covid Karens got a lot of these swine started. They need to be kicked to the curb, by any means possible.

  18. Democrats suffer from a Mental Disorder for which there is NO CURE !! Time for ALL PARENTS and Concerned Taxpaying citizens to take back control of these schools and the “boards” that oversee them. If this LUNATIC chair thinks that Taxpayers with NO children should not have a say in how the schools are run then ALL Taxpayers who do NOT have children in school should be EXEMPT from ALL SCHOOL TAXES !

Comments are closed.

Latest Articles