Florida’s top education official wants Alachua County School Board Chair Sarah Rockwell to face repercussions after a contentious public comment period spiraled out of control July 31.
In an Aug. 1 letter, Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas accused Rockwell of allegedly violating a parent’s constitutional right during the board meeting. He called her behavior “inexcusable” and urged the State Board of Education to withhold “an amount equal to the salaries of all board members” from the district.
“You should be ashamed of your failure as a board member, let alone the board chair,” Kamoutsas wrote. “I think it’s time for some reflection on whether you are properly equipped to serve.”
Kamoutsas wrote that by “publicly humiliating” the parent for his views, Rockwell created a “chilling effect” on all parents with similar beliefs. He ended the letter by stating Rockwell should not apply to renew her teaching certificate, writing he would “not permit her” to hold one.
The commissioner’s rebuke caps off a volatile week for the Alachua County School Board – one that began with a Facebook post about the death of celebrity wrestler Hulk Hogan and ended in political condemnation, threats against Rockwell’s family and a board meeting that broke into chaos.
The letter elevated a local boardroom dispute into a statewide test of facts over whether a parent’s rights were infringed or whether the events were mischaracterized.
Hulk Hogan, hashtags and harassment
After posting a comment about the death of celebrity pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan on her personal Facebook account, Rockwell faced criticism, including multiple death threats and the public release of her address, according to emails sent to her school board inbox.
“Oh, did Hulk die? I didn’t even know. Good. One less MAGA in the world,” Rockwell wrote in the deleted Facebook post.
Her comments received national attention, and Rockwell issued an apology on her school board member Facebook page July 26.
The Alachua County Republican Party called for Rockwell’s resignation in a series of Facebook posts with the hashtag #resignrockwell.
Florida House Representative Kat Cammack responded to the virality, taking to X.
“As their federal Representative, I look forward to meeting with Sarah and @AlachuaSchools to discuss their federal funding,” Cammack wrote.
Rockwell began the July 31 ACSB budget hearing with an apology, stating she “deeply regrets the highly inappropriate” comment.
“This mistake was mine alone, and I regret that it has distracted from the important work we’re doing in this district,” Rockwell said at Thursday’s meeting. “I’m choosing to respond with humility, a commitment to personal growth and a renewed dedication to this district.”
Rockwell mentioned the threats during her speech, stating while she remains fully accountable for her actions, she doesn’t condone political violence.
“No one, especially my children, should be put at risk for my mistake,” she said.
During the meeting, Board Member Jeanine Plavac followed Rockwell’s remarks, reading her celebratory post aloud.
Plavac called Rockwell’s comments a “clear breach of community values.” She received emails calling for Rockwell’s resignation, she said.
“We must hold our leaders to our highest standards,” Plavac said. “For those that emailed me asking for that, I advised them that the governor was the only person that could exercise that authority.”
Plavac was appointed by DeSantis to fill a nearly four-month ACSB vacancy because of her passion for teaching, her contribution to nonprofits and the "importance of her faith,” she said, not her conservative values.
“I have never professed to be anything more than a nurse of 49 years who values life,” Plavac said. “A teacher who has taught her students for 21 years the importance of integrity…and a conservative who respects and loves this country.”
Plavac said Rockwell “crossed the line” with her comments.
Responding to angry community members over email July 28, Plavac said she hoped Rockwell would “voluntarily” remove herself from the board.
“I have already written to the Governor because he is the only one that can remove her from the board since it is an elected position,” Plavac wrote to a community member over email. “I hope that Dr. Rockwell voluntarily makes the necessary change needed in leadership on the board before that time.”
Florida school board races are traditionally nonpartisan positions. Amendment 1, which would have made Florida school board elections partisan, did not pass in the 2024 election.
DeSantis has actively sought to influence the composition of Florida school boards to align with his educational agenda. DeSantis’ school board appointees over the last two years were registered Republicans, according to voter registration records.
In the 2022 midterm elections, DeSantis endorsed 30 candidates, with only five losses. His endorsements helped flip at least three Florida school boards from a liberal to a conservative majority.
DeSantis' political campaign launched the DeSantis Education Agenda survey in 2022, designed to assess school board candidates' stances on key issues – such as critical race theory, parental rights and curriculum content. Candidates were encouraged to sign a certificate pledging their support for the governor's agenda to ensure alignment with his educational vision.
From comment to chaos
Over 25 community members spoke in support of Rockwell during the July 31 board meeting’s first public comment period.
The crowd loudly argued after public commenter Jeremy Clepper, a 36-year-old Jonesville, Florida, resident, began speaking in dissent of Rockwell.
Clepper said Rockwell should step down if she has a “shred of integrity in her body,” later calling her a “disgusting, vile human being.”
Clepper spoke for the full two minutes he was allotted during his comment period. ACSB vice-chair Tina Certain warned the crowd not to interrupt him when attendees began speaking over him.
Certain ordered for Clepper’s removal, who was approached by resource officers from his seat.
Board Attorney David Delaney said he shouldn’t be removed.
Clepper walked down the rows and approached the dais, where he stood in front of board members. When the board questioned whether to remove him, audience members shouted, “Get him out,” while another community member commandeered the commenter podium microphone.
“He’s a white supremacist, get his ass out!” the community member shouted.
The board cut its microphone feeds and called for an immediate recess.
Board chair Sarah Rockwell was absent for the remainder of the meeting. She was listed as “not present at vote” on the board’s virtual agenda.
The missing minutes
While community members at home waited for the meeting’s recess to end, citizens at the meeting witnessed and filmed Clepper’s interaction with officers on scene.
Evan Meyer, a 27-year-old Gainesville resident and ACPS graduate, sat directly to the right of the speaking podium. He witnessed Clepper interrupt the board’s discussion multiple times, he said, shouting from his chair and asking when it was his turn to speak.
Meyer said Clepper was doing more than simply expressing an opinion; he caused disruption.
“I felt like I was watching a Jim Carrey movie instead of listening to political discourse,” Meyer said. “He gets in the face of Rockwell, starts yelling at her, starts pointing his finger at her, and that's the point when I started recording.”
Meyer’s video of the incident shows five uniformed officers surrounding Clepper, who stood within a few feet of the dais.
District Security Chief Douglas Pelton calmed the crowd after officers and Clepper reasoned with David Delaney.
“He is allowed to stay…however, he is choosing to leave,” Pelton said, following Clepper out of the boardroom.
Meyer believed the school board responded appropriately by evacuating the dais during the incident, but he said he was disappointed by the officers’ behavior.
“Half a dozen officers in the room, and not one of them was making sure that this angry man wasn't able to physically lash out or intimidate a school board member,” he said. “A couple people did leave because they were afraid of the potential of violence.”
Meyer said the incident stood out because other public commenters, even those in dissent, remained calm.
“Everyone else was being civil when there were very minor interruptions,” he said. “This man was belligerent. He was interrupting. He was rude. You cannot paint yourself as a victim when you were acting belligerent.”
Tonya Camaratta, a 48-year-old Gainesville resident, attended the board meeting. Camaratta said she expected the meeting to be contentious but was “pleasantly surprised” when most of the public commenters showed support for Rockwell.
Camaratta believes Clepper “brought the temperature of the room up,” she said, especially since Rockwell received death threats following the comments.
“The main thing that I think escalated was just the proximity of the lawyer to Sarah,” Camaratta said. “If the lawyer had come around to the side and spoken to him in a different location, I think there would have been no issue.”
Camaratta, who lives a few houses down from Rockwell, observed increased police presence in her neighborhood following the threats. She fears for Rockwell’s safety, she said.
“A Facebook post about a celebrity wrestler could lead to death threats to someone in my neighborhood?” she said. “I'm not really a fan of that at all. I don't understand why there's not more of an effort to tone down the rhetoric.”
Clepper’s perspective
Clepper attended the meeting because he found Rockwell’s comments “disgusting” and believed the words were a blanket statement for all Trump supporters, including “everyone he knows,” he said.
Clepper said he believes the incident was a violation of his rights.
After walking toward the dais, Clepper asked Delaney “how many First Amendment lawsuits” he wanted on his desk in the morning.
“I pointed to [Rockwell], and I said, ‘She's making your life hell right now,’” Clepper said. “Even though they told me I could stay, it was just too hostile of an environment, so I just went ahead and left.”
In response to claims he interrupted the meeting, Clepper said he’d never been to a meeting before and wished the board clarified when public comment began.
In response to the controversy, Clepper took to social media, including Facebook and X, receiving national attention.
“They said that I stormed the dais to attack her, to attack Rockwell,” he said. “They said that they were in fear that I was going to hit her. It's just insane.”
The community is going after him for being a “white, strong man,” Clepper added.
“Big, strong men aren't allowed to speak their piece, especially if they're white,” he said.
Since the meeting, Clepper said he’s received one-star reviews on his company’s Google page and messages calling him a white supremacist.
The letter is evidence the community is “tired of this progressive agenda,” he said, and it gives him hope that it’ll be different this time.
While Clepper doesn’t support threats to Rockwell’s family, he said Rockwell should “live with the consequences” of her actions.
“I wish she would have said right there in the meeting, ‘I hope all MAGA do die,’ because at least she'd be not lying and getting it out there,” he said. “Let the moron speak.”
Clepper was contacted by the Florida Attorney General’s office, stating they’re “getting things together.”
He reached out to civil rights lawyers about the incident and said he “won’t go away quietly.”
“I'm hoping to see more Plavacs up there to balance this town out,” he said.
Was it a violation?
Over 30 people signed up for public comment, and “everyone was afforded the same amount of time to speak,” said ACSB vice-chair Tina Certain.
“I ran the meeting according to the protocol that we have outlined in board policy,” Certain said. “Our policy is surrounding the state law.”
Under Florida law, school boards must provide a “reasonable opportunity to be heard” during public meetings.
The statute allows boards to adopt rules dictating time limits and decorum, but it doesn’t permit censorship based on viewpoint alone. Speech can only be restricted if it materially disrupts the meeting.
A separate Florida law further authorizes the school board chair to maintain order and remove individuals who interfere with the board’s work but only after they’ve been warned.
A recent federal appeals court decision struck down a Florida district’s restrictive public comment policy, finding that even abrasive or offensive remarks are protected under the First Amendment if they don’t stop the board from doing its job.
According to ACPS policy, in addition to a “reasonable opportunity” to speak, time limits are set at three minutes per speaker if fewer than 20 speakers are present or two minutes if more. No person may address or question board members individually, according to board policy.
The board chair holds the authority to maintain order during meetings by interrupting, warning or removing speakers if their comments become too lengthy, personally directed, abusive or disruptive.
The chair may also ask an individual to leave the meeting if they do not observe reasonable decorum or request law enforcement assistance in removing someone whose behavior disrupts the meeting’s progress. If the overall lack of public decorum prevents the board from conducting business, the chair is authorized to call a recess or adjourn the meeting.
While the district encourages open communication, board policy expects a clear separation between personal political views and official conduct.
Regarding Rockwell’s comments, ACPS policy warns members that personal posts can affect professional standing, particularly when comments are defamatory or disrupt trust.
However, board policy doesn’t explicitly prohibit personal social media speech unless it violates professional standards or disrupts district operations.
Rockwell’s conduct at the meeting did not violate ACPS policies, according to policy numbers 0169.1, 0124, 0149.1 and 1112.
Rockwell’s public apology also aligns with ACPS policies on the expectations of accountability.
Tina Certain confirmed Clepper interrupted board discussion during the budget hearing, asking when it would be his turn during public comment.
In the days leading up to the meeting, community members planned protests for and against Rockwell. Out of caution, Certain said she asked for more officers on scene than usual.
Certain doesn’t agree with the letter, she said, stating the assertions are false and “an attack on the entire board.”
“It’s an effort to intimidate us, to capitulate to their viewpoints,” Certain said. “[Anastasios Kamoutsas’] not only threatened her as an elected official, now he's trying to revoke her teaching certificate, which is her livelihood, because she spoke something that did not align with their ideology.”
ACPS attorneys are preparing for the possibility the state will withhold board member salaries, she said.
Certain encourages public participation in board meetings, she said.
Rockwell was asked not to comment on the incident but provided a statement written by ACPS spokesperson Jackie Johnson.
“Everyone who requested to speak at the School Board meeting was able to do so,” Johnson wrote. “Regardless of their expressed viewpoint, no one was required to leave the meeting. It is our belief that everyone’s First Amendment rights were upheld.”
According to Anastasios Kamoutsas’ letter, Rockwell must attend the State Board of Education meeting Aug. 20.
At the meeting, Rockwell will need to explain what actions she must take to “restore parents’ rights” in ACPS.
Contact Sara-James Ranta at sranta@alligator.org. Follow her on X @sarajamesranta.
Sara-James Ranta is a journalism senior, minoring in sociology of social justice and policy. She previously served as Metro's K-12 education reporter. In her free time, SJ is watching a new show, listening to EDM or discussing Star Wars.
