20 April 2024
Commissioner of the Florida Department of Education Manny Diaz Jr.
Office of the Commissioner
Florida Department of Education
Turlington Building, Suite 1514
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Dear Commissioner Diaz:
I hope this message finds you well. Just a couple of weeks ago, I got back from spending 6 months in Indian River County. I met some incredible teachers and students along the way.
Before we get started, can we establish a couple of ground rules?? No one wants to hear any Christofascist nonsense. No one is interested in any “We’re secretly going to use vouchers to get money for rich families and out of the hands of the average student” regurgitation. I’m going to discuss issues with you as you are managing an Education Department in the Northeast. You’ll discover along the way that there’s a good reason for that.
For some reason, when you make statements, you don’t think those of us in blue states can look up the actual stats. Don’t feel bad. Evangelical clowns who try to portray Jesus as a sexist bigot forget we have access to the original translation. Heck, the second word of the Bible is mistranslated.
I loved the kids, parents, and teachers I met. Why does it matter so much to me?? Because I was created in Florida. If I hadn’t been given up for adoption, I would have grown up there. The kids growing up there now deserve an opportunity to improve themselves via education. The easiest way to demonstrate that you are failing is to remember that your schools rank 46th in SAT scores.
We’re used to red states ranking as the worst at things all the time. But SAT’s ranked in the bottom 10%?? Yet you have time to talk about saying gay and preventing citizens from independently investigating police officers and some of those same kids who happen to be women to carry children at age 12. God forbid they get raped?? By the way, that’s how I got here and, like many of us who went through that, I’m Pro Choice. Is this a backward attempt at suicide?? No. It is a reaction to what people like you allow women to go through.
Kids in Florida deserve better than this. Trans kids in Florida deserve to be left alone. Young girls in Florida deserve to control their own bodies. They need to have an Education Commissioner who actually cares about education and dumb culture wars. By the way, I do understand. Republicans have nothing of merit to boast about, so the fake culture wars are the only way to get people to the polls.
I learned that the kids and parents know they are getting screwed. I learned that many of the teachers, like a good number of the doctors, have resumes looking to leave. I even learned that you don’t take advantage of the weather when it comes to education.
I also know just writing you a letter or complaining will fix nothing, because you’re beholden to the guy who pleasures himself while watching folks get force-fed. If you want the gig, you have to follow certain rules. So we have an idea. Those of us in the 6 month/6 month crew, and there’s a lot of us, are going to spend an extra couple of weeks in Florida. Yeah, it’s way more fun to get registered and vote here, but the tax benefits will make us ignore that. Most importantly, we can better balance things out in Florida and create a better environment for the kids.
Please don’t even bother showing those lines your Governor, soon to be mine as well, repeats about education. We have been through those speeches a few times and can debunk literally everything. Your rankings in some spots are next.
We want better for kids in all red states. Florida attracts the most visitors. It makes total sense to launch the Pilot program there.
You are watching what is happening to Trump as well, right?? Guy who is on trial because he used hush money to cover up paying somebody who was not his wife to sleep with him, the only way he’s been able to get laid since he went broke in the 70’s, is telling religious communities that he’s the Messiah. Doesn’t stepping aside sound better than being part of that nonsense?? What happens 30 years from now when kids try to find out what you are about and all they can discover is illiterate MAGA nonsense designed to attract the uneducated?? The ironies almost never end.
The worst part is that your governor knows he’s just playing too. I’m willing to bet he doesn’t believe half the stuff that comes out of his mouth. I’d be willing to wager that he votes like a blue person when he gets a chance. Then he goes to the office the next day and puts on his Christofascist gear.
There is something you could do. Realizing how the educated majority of millions sees you, maybe that’s not how you want your name to be perceived. I gave this opportunity to the Rhode Island GOP Chairperson and the Chairperson of the Chamber of Commerce in Upstate New York. You could announce to the world that you love conservatism, you want kids to learn in a conservative way, but you don’t want kids to grow up as serial cheating money launderers who manage to get found guilty of sexual assault. It would have been rape if Trump’s penis weren’t a reported pinky size, and she couldn’t tell the difference, like Trump is. Love conservatism as much as you want. We might disagree, but it’s not pathetically repulsive. Unless you’ve bought into the whole “women are property” program, an all-loving God would not create one gender as property, you could call everyone out for supporting Trump and be considered a hero. You’d be the most popular Education Commissioner in the United States. The other choice is to be known for having that 46th SAT ranking.
Folks who read my writing often know what’s coming. In case you haven’t looked, COVID and old age are literally killing the Republican Party. Trump is causing problems with both women and Gen-Z that make the damage irreparable. We know these ideas are going to die. However, roughly 61,000 women who have had to bear children after being raped want you to know it’s not fast enough. You could put an end to pain for many. How you handle the next 7 months is how people will judge you, even though the movie will end up ending the same way, no matter what you decide. Don’t your religious beliefs mandate relieving pain for the sufferer in the present??
Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
In Hoc Signo,
Robert T. Oliveira
Spent the day wandering through libraries in Groton, CT
401-391-6402
Quahogs United 