A week after health secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s visited two Tampa Bay schools, fielding questions about his opinions on vaccines and taking photos flanked with elected officials some Hillsborough County school board members want to introduce a policy to keep politics out of schools.
During the board members’ comments, some board members said they had approached the board’s lawyer about further expanding a policy to later come before them that would further limit partisan politics in schools.
Board member Nadia Combs said six years ago, she rarely saw prominent elected officials coming to the district.
“Now every time I turn around, there’s an elected official coming in here,” she said. “It’s great that people want to come to the district, but I think it’s very, very important that it’s nonpartisan discussions.”
The issue has surfaced particularly during this election cycle. After Kennedy’s appearance at Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary to announce a school nutrition grant and at Gaither High School to watch a fitness test, people online questioned why Republican candidates on November’s ballot, including Rep. Laurel Lee and Sen. Ashley Moody, were present. Similar issues arose recently in Pinellas County when former Gov. Charlie Crist, now a candidate for mayor, featured St. Petersburg High School in a Facebook video.
It comes at a time when board members are trying to fight a state referendum to make the superintendent an elected position as well — something they say will inject more politics into schools.
“I do not want to lose enrollment of students or have a risk of a referendum because people are trying to get reelected or they have some kind of reason to come to this district,” Combs said. “It’s great when somebody comes and they’re talking about healthcare and they’re talking about presidential fitness. But I have an issue when people talk about things like vaccinations.”
Board member Jessica Vaughn said she was happy the issue was being addressed.
“I do think there is a difference between meaningful civic engagement and conversations, and political theater, and I’m worried that we’re starting to veer off towards political theater, especially if we have elected officials who have been very harsh and criticized some of our school officials, targeted them, and then later want to come back in our schools without addressing that,” Vaughn said.
She added it was worth differentiating when elected officials wanted to visit to schools “to really see what we’re doing and to be able to advocate in their powers, or if they’re bringing appropriations back to our school, or they want to learn about the great things that we’re doing here.
“By all means we should work with all elected officials,” she said.
Board member Lynn Gray said the issue felt like a slippery slope, and said it applies to both sides of the political aisle.
“I don’t think we’ve experienced so much division in our history of elections,” she said. “It makes you think, why all of a sudden do those candidates want to come to our schools? ...Right before an election period, it’s a platform for them to get their name out.”
Combs said it was important that board members were also briefed on who would be coming to schools. She said elected officials were welcomed, but that conversations about politics should be had at home, not schools.
“Every time I turn around, we have people coming from outside the state,” she said. “That’s great. Come here and bring us money. Come bring us solutions, right? If you’re coming here for a photo op, you know, don’t waste our time. We’ve got too much work to do.”
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