The Darryl Jones Silence on Charlie Kirk Comments Speaks Volumes

By Preston Scott

“I Didn’t Like Kids”. Just one clue someone might not be fit for public education and children’s social work.

I am of the opinion Charlie Kirk was not assassinated so much because he was a Christian-conservative. Charlie was murdered because millions of young people listened to him.

In the days, now weeks, since his death I have often asked guests on my radio show the following question, “What’s was worse – the killing of Charlie Kirk or the celebration of it by so many?”

Each person answered my question with the latter. It is much more troubling so many rejoiced in Charlie Kirk’s death.

It’s troubling because those people truly did not, do not, have a clue as to who or what Charlie was all about. The sorry celebrants never, ever took the time to actually listen to an entire event Charlie hosted or spoke at, never engaged in any civil discourse with him.  

Charlie’s visits to campuses nationwide are all over YouTube. There are no excuses to not know better.

The effort to demean, slander, and libel Charlie Kirk has not subsided and it leads me to Leon County School Board member Darryl Jones.

Florida’s Education Commissioner Anastosios Kamoutsas posted on social media: “Teachers are held to a higher standard as public servants and must ensure their conduct does not undermine the trust of the students and families they serve. We will hold teachers who choose to make disgusting comments about the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk accountable.”

In response, Jones made clear his feelings and wrote (in a now deleted post) that Kirk was a, “racist, misogynist, homophobic Klansman.”

Normally, this type of thing would be followed with a statement of regret, expressing sadness over the senseless killing of someone for just engaging in civil debate. I mean a decent person would state something of the kind.

Not Darryl Jones. Instead, he simply took the post down and never apologized. I am told Turning Point USA is considering legal action against Jones.

Clearly, he believes what he wrote, he just did not have the courage to leave it posted.

What he wrote is contemptible and demonstrably false. It is almost equally contemptible that his colleagues on the Leon County School Board have sat silent, as has Superintendent Rocky Hanna. Only current Chair Laurie Cox mustered some disdain offering a mild lecture on the matter without singling out Jones.

Which leads me to Jone’s place, not only as a Leon County School Board member, but as its appointed representative on the Children’s Services Council.

His views on Charlie Kirk reveal someone not best suited to serve in either of those roles. Voters will hopefully settle the former (though I am not holding my breath), while the School Board should remedy the latter – now.

Oh, and then there’s this … In an interview published on YouTube, “Conversations with Nicole” March 9, 2016, Darryl Jones, when asked by Nicole Everett about his decision to not become an educator stated that as a student teacher, he learned teaching was not for him because, “I didn’t like kids.”

Quite a statement for a guy who decided to run for, and now sits on, the Leon County Schools Board and serves on the Children’s Services Council.

I wonder what Jones has to say to all of the students in our public schools who looked at Charlie Kirk as a big brother, as a mentor, as someone they admired.

I actually don’t have to guess because Jones, in his silence, by not issuing an apology, has spoken to students and parents alike.