Lee County School Board members applaud conservative shift following election

FORT MYERS, Fla. (FLV) – Recently-elected Lee County School Board members applauded the board for its collaboration and conservative shift following 2022 school board elections.

Republicans Sam Fisher, Jada Langford-Fleming and Armor Persons were elected to the Lee County School Board in 2022. The members reflected on the culture shift and policy changes compared to the previous school board. 

Those policies range from allowing more school personnel to be armed, to putting more parameters on questionable school books, to encouraging transparency and creating more efficient processes. 

“Looking at the board as an outsider, two things really were obvious,” Persons said. “One, there was a lot of infighting among the board members and two, the board overall was very liberal. So those two things was what really sort of made me want to run.”

For example, Florida’s Voice reported in June 2021 that the Lee County school board had considered a code of conduct to allow as an option students access restrooms “consistent with their gender identity” with prior approval.

The Lee County School Board is now passing conservative initiatives with Persons as the chair. One major policy difference between the two boards deals with the Guardian Program, which allows some school employees to carry guns in schools. 

The Lee County School Board approved the program in May 2023, a historic moment for conservatives after the board had previously shot down similar proposals. In fact, the vote for the Guardian Program this recent time around was unanimous. 

“It had not passed three tries before,” Persons said. “And I did a resolution to go forward with it. It was a campaign promise.”

Persons said a “very positive case” was made for the program along with the sheriff’s backing and community engagement to create the policy. He applauded the board for its cooperation and said that allowed members to address concerns.

“A couple of the liberals had a couple of very good concerns, which we addressed,” he said. “And that’s why we ended up with a policy and ended up unanimously being able to pass it.”

Persons also believes the board displayed its primarily conservative leaning during discussions about controversial books in schools.

State lawmakers approved legislation to make it easier for citizens to challenge questionable books due to age inappropriateness and sexual content.

Persons said the Lee County school board put on another layer of protection for kids with regards to books that have been challenged in the classrooms. He said books that have been challenged and are still allowed on the shelves after the appeals process would be “flagged.”

“Which means it cannot be checked out without parental permission,” he explained.

As Lee County schools has about a $2 billion budget, Fisher said the board also “opened the front doors” to allow for an additional audit by Lee County Clerk of Court Kevin Karnes.

“Come look inside and make sure we’re doing everything as transparent and responsible as we can,” Fisher said.

While Fisher said there were audits beforehand, the board wanted another “trusted” entity to give an outside perspective.

“We have our own auditors, but I wanted to come in and look at our own internal auditors,” Fisher said. “Transparency and fiscal responsibility. I think that’s big.”

One of Langford-Fleming’s priorities includes changing the Lee County School District’s branding name, which is currently “Personal, Passionate, Progressive.” She made the suggestion at Tuesday’s meeting.

Langford-Fleming said those words do not deal with students and education, noting that the district should “reflect the values and principles of the community.”

“When I was on the campaign trail, I heard a lot about the word progressive,” she said. “And while that once did not have a negative connotation, it now definitely does and it’s being used in ways that don’t align with conservative values.”

The new board has also tackled the long-standing issue of simplifying the number of buses that reach the same neighborhoods to pick up students, also called a proximity plan. For example, instead of providing busing to 14 different schools for kids that live on the same block, they scaled it back to four buses.

People shared their frustration with Langford-Fleming on the campaign trail about students standing on the sidewalks extremely early in the morning and returning home past dinnertime. It’s a problem Langford-Fleming was proud the board began tackling.

“And that says a lot for a board who I think would have maybe argued or just had their own agenda for some of those items,” she said.

“And that took a lot of cooperation from everybody,” Persons said. “And I think the workshops, we were able to talk it over, unlike the previous board.”

This moves into the next point that the board members pointed to: A culture change.

Besides policy changes, all three new board members believe there has been a shift in the culture and collaboration between colleagues, including those who think differently on topics. 

“Just the whole culture, making sure that we’re listening to parents in the community,” Fisher said. “If someone disagrees with us, that’s our alright, making sure to take their concerns into consideration.”

Persons believes that before the November election, the board members had “such animosity” between each other that they “could not function as they should.”

Langford-Fleming said a big reason the Guardian Program passed was because of the culture shift to listen and create transparency with constituents and staff.

“I’ve always said that if we put children first, we’re going to agree on a lot more things than we disagree with,” she explained. “And I do feel like that is happening.”

Democrat Debbie Jordan was also reelected to the seven member Lee County School Board in 2022.