Speaking from a podium in front of the Brevard, Florida County jail’s barbed wire fencing, his gold five-point star badge and holstered firearm clearly visible, Sheriff Wayne Ivey announced it’s “a new day,” as he introduced a new disciplinary program for school children who he lamented no longer fear having “the cheeks of their ass torn off for not doing right in class.”
Just so there was no chance for confusion by students or parents, Sheriff Ivey was joined by Florida State Attorney Phil Archer, and School Board Chairman Matt Susin, who has ties to the far-right organization Moms for Liberty. All three “went on camera Monday in front of the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes to announce plans to impose the ‘most prolific school discipline policy this district has ever had,'” which ClickOrlando reports as a “discipline crackdown.”
The press briefing, where no questions from reporters were allowed, came just after the highly-controversial ousting of the popular schools superintendent by the far-right members of Brevard County School Board.
“They know nothing is going to happen to them,” Sheriff Ivey angrily lamented, referring to school students who misbehave. “They know they’re not going to be given after-school detention, they’re not going to be suspended. They’re not going to be expelled. Or like in the old days, they’re not going to have the cheeks of their ass torn off for not doing right in class.”
Florida allows for corporal punishment to be administered if the school board approves, but Florida law also states, “Corporal discipline may be considered excessive or abusive when it results in” certain specific injuries, including “Significant bruises or welts,” according to Florida Statutes listed on the Florida Senate’s official website.
“If you’re a little snot that’s coming to our classes to be disruptive, you might want to find some place else to go to school because we’re going to be your worst nightmare starting right now,” Ivey also said, according to Florida Today.
“Ivey’s video pronouncement about school discipline comes after the swearing in last week of two new school board members, both endorsed by the sheriff and Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Susin being chosen as the board chair.”
Ivey promised, “starting right now it’s a brand new day, folks.”
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“It is a brand new day, where school discipline is going to be put back in place in Brevard public schools. We have a school board that stands behind this. We have our teachers union that stands behind it. I can tell you that our team, all the way from the state attorney from school district security, to the principals to the teachers, we’re all tired of this disruptive behavior.”
Sheriff Ivey was not done. He went as far as to suggest the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School which left 17 people dead, was the result of lax discipline.
“When we look at school discipline, you know, there’s two avenues that somebody that’s being disruptive in class. One is handled administratively inside the school district, that’s someone is being disruptive in class not following the policies and procedures set forth by the school. The other is criminal, criminal activity. If you want to see the distinction between how those two should be handled you only need to look as far south as Parkland because what they did down there was stop handling things on the criminal side and try to keep everything on the admin side. There are criminal acts that take place, that’s what we’re going to be involved in. We’re going to deal with those. We are going to make sure that those individuals aren’t on our campuses where they can cause harm to our teachers, our students, our faculty.”
Watch Sheriff Ivey’s remarks in videos above or at this link.