The war against woke indoctrination in America’s government schools just claimed another major victory.
Parents and common-sense school board members are finally fighting back against the radical Left’s divisive agenda.
And the Sarasota School Board dismantled one woke policy that left leftist students shell-shocked.
Sarasota takes a stand against identity politics in schools
The Sarasota County School Board delivered a crushing blow to the woke mob’s stranglehold on education this week with a decisive 3-2 vote that strips specific identity categories from their anti-bullying policy.
What the Left called “protections” was nothing more than their usual game of dividing students into warring camps based on race, gender, and sexual orientation.
The board’s preliminary vote removes explicit references to race, gender, disability, and sexual orientation from the district’s harassment policy.
Instead, they’re replacing this divisive language with broader protections that actually cover all students equally.
Board member Robyn Marinelli, who voted in favor of the change, cut straight to the heart of the matter. “I believe this is for all kids — all staff — that should never, ever be picked on, bullied or harassed,” she stated during Tuesday’s contentious meeting.¹
The woke crowd predictably lost their minds over this common-sense approach to student safety.
Leftist students throw tantrum over losing special treatment
You could practically hear the collective shriek from progressive activists when they realized their precious identity politics gravy train was getting derailed.
Student Kennedy Cole whined that removing the specific categories somehow weakened protections, claiming “By enumerating these terms, it gives the principal a line in the rule book they can point to and say, ‘You violated this.’”²
Another speaker went full drama queen, declaring “By removing verbiage and generalizing protections, you are directly attacking minorities like me and opening the door to hate.”³
These kids have been so brainwashed by leftist educators that they actually believe treating all students equally is somehow an attack on minorities.
It’s both tragic and infuriating.
But board member Bridget Ziegler wasn’t having any of their victimhood theater.
“There are no protections being removed,” she fired back. “This is unifying instead of identifying subcategories, because you are absolutely leaving people out, and that sends the wrong message.”⁴
Trump administration’s anti-woke directive triggers nationwide pushback
This victory in Sarasota didn’t happen in a vacuum.
It’s part of a larger movement sweeping across the nation as President Trump’s administration takes aim at the diversity, equity, and inclusion poison that has infected our schools.
The Education Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor sent a letter to school districts nationwide targeting DEI programs that have actually resulted in discrimination against white and Asian students.
“In a shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history, many American schools and universities even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories and other facilities,” Trainor’s letter stated.⁵
The woke brigade is in full panic mode because they know their house of cards is collapsing. Joe Saunders from Equality Florida practically admitted defeat when he worried “We are very concerned this could be the beginning of a wave.”⁶
Good. It should be a wave. A tsunami, actually.
Florida leads the charge against educational indoctrination
Sarasota County isn’t blazing this trail alone.
Five other Florida counties have already implemented similar changes to their student codes of conduct, according to board members.⁷
The Palm Beach County School Board voted last week to repeal DEI language from its official policies.
Duval County is wrestling with similar changes after parent backlash over their woke policies.⁸
Governor Ron DeSantis has already banned schools from operating any diversity, equity and inclusion programs statewide.
Now local school boards are following his lead and dismantling the infrastructure of woke indoctrination piece by piece.
The NAACP’s Trevor D. Harvey tried to defend the old system, claiming “Protected groups are protected for a reason.”⁹
But that’s exactly the problem – creating special protected classes inevitably means some students are more equal than others.
That’s not equality. That’s just old-fashioned discrimination dressed up in fancy progressive language.
Looking forward
Parents have watched for years as school administrators twisted anti-bullying policies into vehicles for pushing gender ideology and racial grievance theories on their kids.
These policies weren’t protecting anyone – they were teaching children to categorize each other by race and sexual orientation instead of seeing their classmates as individuals.
The Sarasota board’s move cuts through all that nonsense.
No special categories. No identity hierarchies.
Just equal protection for every student, period.
Here’s what the critics don’t want to admit: this approach actually works better.
When you stop dividing kids into oppressor and victim categories, you can focus on the real problem – stopping bullying behavior regardless of who’s doing it or why.
The activists losing their minds over this decision aren’t really concerned about student safety. They’re panicking because school boards are finally rejecting their divisive playbook.
Every school board in America should be watching what’s happening in Sarasota and asking themselves a simple question: why are we still playing by rules that divide our students instead of protecting them?
The final vote hasn’t been scheduled yet, but the writing’s already on the wall.
More districts are going to follow Sarasota’s lead, and that’s exactly what needs to happen.
¹ Evyn Moon, “Sarasota school board votes to change harassment policy language, sparking backlash,” Fox 13, July 22, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Jacob Ogles, “Critics warn against change in Sarasota Co. School Board anti-discrimination policy,” Florida Politics, July 22, 2025.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Michelle Vecerina, “Sarasota School Board removes identity protections, prompting pushback from student advocates,” Florida News, July 23, 2025.
⁸ Jacob Ogles, “Critics warn against change in Sarasota Co. School Board anti-discrimination policy,” Florida Politics, July 22, 2025.
⁹ Ibid.
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Author: rgcory
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