Why are DeSantis, Sarasota County School Board obsessed with bathrooms?

Boys' bathroom or girls'? Who cares

With Sarasota schools facing challenges ahead such as underpaid teachers, among many issues, the Sarasota County School Board's main focus appears to be who can use what bathroom. Really!

I have run many races and marathons, including Boston and New York, and in the pre-race staging areas they have rows and rows of portable toilets. They are not gender specific and nobody cares.

Move jeopardizes federal funding: School Board rejects Title IX protections against gender identity discrimination

I have been to many concerts where the lines for the women’s restrooms are so long some women choose to use the men’s restroom, and nobody cares. I have attended big-time, crowded sporting events where, again, women use the men’s restroom and nobody cares.

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I have stopped at gas stations while traveling and the men’s room has been occupied so I used the women’s restroom and nobody cared.

I could give many more examples but the bottom line is nobody cared, nobody got hurt, nobody got bullied and nobody came out horrified, questioning their gender identity.

Instead of tackling the real issues, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the School Board spend countless hours on a nonissue.

Kevin Kidd, Sarasota

Food assistant named School Lunch Hero

At Englewood Elementary School, you don’t need to star in a Marvel movie to be a superhero. Kayla Lewis understands the responsibility of nurturing children and excels in her role as a dedicated educator and caretaker.

Kayla, a food service assistant, goes beyond academics, forming personal connections with students to provide them with safety and support. Throughout the day, she radiates kindness and maintains a smile, always ready to help kids get proper nutrition. Despite facing personal challenges, including experiencing the effects of a hurricane, Kayla’s resilience shines through.

For her dedication to her students, Kayla is one of five statewide winners being recognized as a 2024 Florida School Lunch Hero. No Kid Hungry Florida is proud to partner with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Dairy Council of Florida in presenting these annual awards to our unsung heroes.

Join us in celebrating Kayla and all the everyday heroes in Sarasota County and across our state who make a positive difference in the lives of children every day.

Sky Beard, director of No Kid Hungry Florida

Media not qualified to give opinions

Perpetuating the Trump-Russian collusion story while burying the Hunter Biden laptop story are to National Public Radio as falling doors and tires are to Boeing.

In an April 9 essay for The Free Press, former NPR Senior Editor Uri Berliner reported that NPR went after “Russiagate” and “turned a blind eye” to the Hunter Biden laptop story because they didn’t like former President Donald Trump. He found that all 87 editors in NPR’s D.C. newsroom were registered Democrats.

When I asked my college classmates why they were majoring in journalism the answer was always “to change the world.” It was never “to report the news fairly and accurately.”

Journalists feel a greater sense of purpose by interjecting their opinion into a news story. The problem is, without taking macroeconomics you don’t have the foundation to form an educated opinion on how the world should be changed.

If I hadn’t taken courses in macroeconomics, I might think that the profit motive is evil, that people are poor because others are rich and that socialism is the only cure.  It’s painful to watch a panel of journalists with zero combined credits in economics talking about what’s best for the economy.

Ben Furleigh, Port Charlotte

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: DeSantis, Sarasota School Board are obsessed with policing bathrooms