Gov. DeSantis’ Ed Board appointee deems ‘Protect Trans Kids’ shirt ‘unacceptable’

The teacher changed into a different shirt, reported the St. Augustine Record.

The Governor’s Office communicated that the shirt was in violation of the St. Johns County School Board dress code, which bars slogans on T-shirts. However, that does not really have much to do with Byrd’s commentary on the shirt on her social media.

Byrd’s post came in the same week of her first meeting as a member of the Board of Education, and reinforces the belief she will be ready to be an active voice against “ideology” in the classroom.

“I’m just a mama and the parent of two children — one’s graduated and one in second grade,” Byrd said Wednesday in Naples. “And we’ve seen the ideology that’s in our education system and it’s not OK. And I look forward to working with this board to make sure that we find those things and we tackle them.”

Byrd is the wife of Rep. Cord Byrd of Neptune Beach.

Rep. Byrd, the incumbent in the current HD 11, is one of the House Republicans who sided with the Governor by voting against redistricting maps preserving a minority-access district in North Florida. Gov. DeSantis is said to be eyeing support of Byrd in a potential Senate run this year.

Mrs. Byrd came to the board with a history of controversial comments, supportive of elements on the right that many see as fringe.

After the Jan. 6 insurrection, Mrs. Byrd offered a defense of those “peacefully protesting” the certification of the 2020 Presidential Election while alluding to “coming civil wars.”

“ANTIFA and BLM can burn and loot buildings and violently attack police and citizens,” Byrd wrote on her Facebook page. “But when Trump supporters peacefully protest, suddenly ‘Law and Order’ is all they can talk about! I can’t even listen to these idiots bellyaching about solving our differences without violence.”

Those comments came after another incendiary post.

“In the coming civil wars (We the People vs the Radical Left and We the People cleaning up the Republican Party), team rosters are being filled,” mused Byrd. “Every elected official in DC will pick one. There are only 2 teams… With Us [or] Against Us.”

In October, Mrs. Byrd offered an unsolicited defense of the Proud Boys, a group of men who bill themselves as “western chauvinists.”

Trump infamously urged them to “stand back and stand by” when pressed to condemn the alt-right movement.

Mrs. Byrd, a staunch supporter of the former President, subsequently claimed many of them and their supporters have been thrown in “FB Jail,” a metaphorical lockdown preventing them from posting to Facebook for some period of time.

“Why do you think Facebook is throwing people in FB Jail who share information about Proud Boys? (Side note: I must really have great friends cause a whole bunch have been locked up! ) I think it’s because they’ve seen a drastic spike in searches and they are worried that people are educating themselves rather than blindly believing what MSM narrative. Anyone have a better theory?”

Those statements came months after Byrd made comments supportive of QAnon after the couple was photographed on a boat flying a QAnon flag.

Byrd’s appointment ultimately is subject to Senate confirmation.