Florida’s Board of Education decided Wednesday that the Alachua school board violated the First Amendment after one member celebrated Hulk Hogan’s death and another tried to throw a dissenter out of a meeting.
The Alachua County School Board will have to undergo training on First Amendment rules in partnership with the Department of Education and be monitored for the 2025-2026 school year, Education Commissioner Stasi Kamoutsas proposed.
If they don’t comply, the five-member board will have their salaries withheld.
“It’s clearly a culture, it’s a toxic culture, and it needs to change,” Kamoutsas said at Wednesday’s board meeting in St. Augustine. “That’s why we’re bringing accountability here today.”
The Board of Education unanimously approved Kamoutsas’ recommendations and agreed that the school board had violated the First Amendment in a voice vote.
The First Amendment issue first erupted in late July, when Alachua School Board Chair Sarah Rockwell took to social media to celebrate the July 24th death of wrestler and Trump supporter Hulk Hogan, writing, "Oh did Hulk die? I didn’t even know. Good. One less MAGA in the world."
Rockwell, elected in 2022, added, "[H]e worked with the McMahons to union bust professional wrestling. [H]e’s never been a good guy. I feel absolutely nothing about his death."
Matters rapidly worsened a week later at a chaotic board meeting on July 31, when one school board member pondered removing a conservative parent for first interrupting the meeting and later calling Rockwell a "disgusting, vile human being", changed course, then called a brief recess instead.
“The Alachua County School Board maliciously targeted a conservative viewpoint,” Kamoutsas added Wednesday, blasting the “egregious” violation of the First Amendment.
Kamoutsas is a top ally to Gov. Ron DeSantis, previously serving as his deputy chief of staff until DeSantis tapped the 37-year-old in June to replace outgoing Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr.
In his two months in office, Kamoutsas has taken up the DeSantis-led battle against perceived culture issues in schools. He’s used DeSantis's language to remove inappropriate books in Hillsborough and Alachua counties and touted the importance of striking “indoctrination” in schools.
On Wednesday, Rockwell, who had quickly issued an apology for her Hogan comments, faced hefty questioning on whether conservative parents could trust her to be fair to their children.
“My record speaks for itself,” she said, noting that if voters are unhappy with her, they can vote her out next August.
“Most parents would have never seen [the Hogan post] if someone had not screenshotted it and tried to make a huge political case out of a comment that was made on my personal page,” Rockwell added.
