a school board member out of Sarasota, Florida, who first ran for the office back in 2020 under the pledge of “no hidden agendas” stated recently to a woke-supporting group that he was with them, lauding that he was “working from the best strategic spot because we’re working from the inside.”
The man in question, Thomas Edwards, who back in a 2017 social media post stated, “I view Trump, his regime, his supporters, and his voters as Nazis,” was officially elected to his role in 2020.
A video of Edwards was taken of him telling the amassed crowd of woke people, “I just wanted to give a little reassurance that here in the state of Florida, there are school board members that are woke. We‘re here! (applause) And we’re working. We have your backs.”
“You need to know we have your backs and we’re working from the best strategic spot because … we’re working from the inside,” he bragged. “We’re 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 and that is a long, slow process. But I’m not the only one in the state of Florida. And I need to tell you so that you feel a little better, there are coalitions forming to protect you.”
Back in APril
“Here in Florida, there are school board members that are woke. We are working from the best strategic spot because we’re working from the inside.” – @sarasotaschools board member pic.twitter.com/TPqmBfghQe
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 7, 2022
As seen in one April 2022 op-ed printed in the Herald-Tribune, Edwards called out the primarily GOP-led Florida legislature of “stoking the flames of a culture war, ” then went after Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for “trying to disguise what they are doing as protecting the rights of parents.”
“The Stop WOKE Act – yet another law supported by the governor and passed by the Legislature – is highly offensive to teachers and administrators,” exclaimed Edwards.
Edwards issued the claim that the conservative politicians of Florida “clearly” seemed to have “an alternative motive for providing ‘solutions’ to parents’ rights problems that don’t exist, allowing books to be banned and imposing measures to sue school districts.”
“Do these laws simply serve as a way to attack public education and increase the expansion of for-profit charter schools? Have they been designed to simply help elected officials win re-election and boost their future political ambitions?” he stated.
Back in July of 2020, while on the campaign trail for his current school board position, he stated, “To have real change we must do two things: a) positively affect the education of our students, and b) replace ineffective, divisive, incumbent officials. Replacing Eric Robinson removes the drama, divisiveness and hidden political agendas from the school board, allowing me to utilize my consensus building skills to heal the relationships with our community, our teachers and the union.”
