First Up: DeSantis book tour comes to Tallahassee

There was no grand entrance at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest book signing at a Tallahassee Books-A-Million: The possible presidential candidate slipped in (and exited) through the store’s loading dock at the back of its shopping center. And there was little small talk as he signed books. But no one City & State spoke with was disappointed with the second-term governor. 

“I totally support (him),” Brandi Andrews of Tallahassee said Thursday afternoon. “My main thing is how he's super focused on parental rights and education. That's a big deal for me. … He is very supportive of parents and that’s a big reason why I'm a fan. There's definitely issues with gender identity and things like that going on in our schools, books that are not age appropriate in our school systems.”

His appearance came the same day that a media firestorm touched off over a Tallahassee public charter school that fired its principal reportedly because an art teacher, among other things, showed a 6th-grade class a full-frontal picture of Michelangelo's David statue. “Two (parents) said they wished they had been notified of the lesson beforehand, and (another) parent complained the lesson was pornographic,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported. 

When told of the controversy, Andrews – whose children do not attend Tallahassee Classical School – said she wasn’t “bothered by that.” She explained, “I mean, to me, that's art and it's of a classical period. … But every parent is different and has their own views, so for some that could be a problem.” 

– Jim Rosica