Alachua County School Board (SBAC) Vice Chair Tina Certain is facing backlash from members of the Republican Party about a comment she made on social media regarding the late Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking at an event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
In the days after his death, prayer vigils were held throughout the country to remember Kirk, including on college campuses such as the University of Florida.
On Sunday, thousands of people filed into State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, for a memorial service honoring Kirk.
In commenting on a Facebook post about Sunday’s memorial, Certain wrote: “I didn’t watch any of that Drump Rally! I went to see an elder bcs the weight of it all – how a 31yr old uneducated white boy has been glorified. He has a organization bcs a millionaire gave him money & connections to start it. To see the feds & state elevate him angers me. It is heavy but I know I can’t stay home. Gotta fight despite being tired of it all.”
The Alachua County Republican Party shared a screenshot of Certain’s comment on its Facebook page Monday, with a text caption: “We’ll let this sit here. Alachua County Vice Chair School Board member.”
U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Gainesville, also shared a screenshot of Certain’s comment on her personal Facebook page Tuesday morning. Cammack accused Certain of “promoting division and hate” and called for her resignation.
“Instead of prioritizing our children, the Alachua County School board members seem to be teaching a master class in hate,” Cammack wrote. “I wonder what the parents of the ‘white boys’ you are supposed to represent think of your deplorable comments – comments, I should add, that you made about the memorial service of a murdered husband and father, which you called a ‘Drump rally.’”
Certain did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment, but she issued a statement that circulated online and in local news outlets.
“While my personal Facebook comment was poorly worded it does not change the reality of his rhetoric,” she wrote. “Charlie Kirk repeatedly insulted and attacked educated women, specifically Black women. His rhetoric was intended to demean through racism. His death is now being cynically used by some on the other side to push an agenda that looks a lot like more hatred, more divisiveness, and more exclusion. We should be able to condemn violence without rewriting history or silencing critiques of his rhetoric.”
Certain also said she has “no plans to resign.”
“My commitment remains to the students, families, and educators I was elected to serve,” she wrote.
Certain is the second school board member to face criticism from Republican leaders over the last several months.
In July, SBAC Chair Sarah Rockwell came under fire for comments she made on social media about the death of pro wrestler Hulk Hogan.
“Oh did Hulk die? I didn’t even know. Good. One less MAGA in the world,” Rockwell wrote in a since-deleted comment on her personal Facebook account.
After her comments went viral on social media, Rockwell issued an apology on her personal Facebook account.
Rockwell issued another public apology at the next school board meeting on July 31, saying the mistake “was mine alone.”
“… And I regret that it has distracted [us] from the important work we are doing in this district,” she said while giving remarks. “As a public official, I know that I am held to a higher standard, and I should have been more thoughtful. I’m not perfect, and I know that. And I know that I can – and I will – do better.”
More than 30 public commentators spoke at the July 31 meeting, with many voicing their support for Rockwell. However, there were a few people – including a man by the name of Jeremy Clepper – who had different feelings.
Clepper, who has a history of making antisemetic statements, said Rockwell, who is Jewish, should resign if she has “a shred of integrity.” He concluded his remarks by calling her a “disgusting vile, human being.”
Certain, who was moderating the meeting at the time, called for Clepper to be removed from the meeting after his comments caused an uproar from the audience. However, SBAC Attorney David Delaney recommended that Clepper not be removed from the meeting room.
Clepper ultimately left on his own accord with Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) deputies around him.
One day after the meeting, Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas issued a letter to Rockwell, saying the school board violated state law.
During a regular meeting on Aug. 20, the State Board of Education agreed with Kamoutsas in finding probable cause that the school board violated a parent’s First Amendment rights, as well as Florida law, at the July 31 meeting.
The state board unanimously approved a recommendation by Kamoutsas that required school board members to undergo training on free-speech policies and follow these guidelines for the rest of the 2025-26 school year, according to the order issued by the state board.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include more of Certain’s statement and context about Jeremy Clepper.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.
Bring the defenders back out about why it’s good Tina Certain – vice chair of a board overseeing thousands of employees, the education of tens of thousands of students, and half a billion dollars in tax money – spends her free time doing this. Let’s hear from the people who agree with Sarah Rockwell that it is a good thing when conservatives die. Keep defending your people, be loud and proud about it. This is what you believe too, right? This is who you are! These are the fighters you elect and keep standing up for, right? Let’s hear y’all about how great this is. Come on out to the party
The hypocrisy of your comment is staggering.
Why? What do you know about me and my views to suggest I am being hypocritical? Be very specific. Speak from your chest and own your words and your hatred, publicly and proudly.
You’ve got nothing Vanessa – because you know the gig is up. Every conservative in Alachua knows leadership of this school board detests them and their kids, won’t protect them, and openly pine for our deaths. This is your team now. Own it! You’ve been saying these things in your private circles for so long – isn’t it a weight off your shoulders to be able to openly and proudly express the hate of your fellow Alachua citizens?
Thank you for an accurate assessment of reality in Alachua County
The board is highly dysfunctional and unprofessional
This Board has been a disaster for the children and parents for about ten years .
If citizens care they need to elect a very different board
The key officers who report to the board have been a continuing revolving door. UnProfessional board is incapable of effective leadership,
This isn’t a question of liberal or conservative, it is an issue of incompetence in the elected board.
The Commissioner of Education or Governor needs to remove her from the School Board.
This is intimidating all the “white boys” here.
This isn’t a white issue it is one of unprofessional incompetence which knows no color
There is a community who is indeed, glorifying a guy who was killed in a way that is more than a bit over the top. One might even think they are using him. Hmmmmm?
The School Board was elected as NON-partisan. These types of comments by Tina and Sarah do nothing but stir division.
They are incapable of acting in any manner concussive to effectively discharging their duties
Saw a video recently where a young white woman explains how many white folks today feel unfulfilled, barren, devoid of fulfillment in their lives.
Perhaps lofting Charlie Kirk, a political pundit who didn’t do much besides see and seize an opportunity to stir the pot and make money doing it at the expense of everybody he criticized, from the late George Floyd to Democrats to liberals to former President Joe Biden (whom he suggested on the record be executed, by the way) into a white equivalent of the late MLK Jr., a savior of white culture and white Christian ideology, makes for a cultural participation trophy in the face of, well, not much else.
In the absence of true heroism, if desperate enough I get the yearning to manufacture it. It’s lame and disingenuous and cries out for criticism, but a cry for help nonetheless.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you should know that many disagree. Kirk was not a pundit or commentator. Your characterizations about him and what he said and did are badly misstated, typical of distorted media reports from a few outlets. I would encourage you to compare coverage of him to actual video of his statements. You might be quite surprised at how the context changes the meanings.
His entire operation was about opening a dialog with people that disagreed with him. He was never disrespectful to anyone that he debated and people that disagreed with him always were invited to the mic first. This is an effective way to maintain a public discourse about our society. For being willing to have a discussion, he was murdered. This should be the focus of everyone’s wrath. The content of the victim’s beliefs are not relevant, be they Communists or Fascists or somewhere between. Nobody should ever be assassinated just for having a discussion. You don’t have to agree with Kirk, just respect everyone’s right to voice their opinion.
That’s funny K M, tell another one!
When you are in a position of authority, especially one over the lives of children (and therefore their families), you should make every effort to avoid any suspicion of favoritism or racism. You should respect the rights of all people, and give honor to all for whom honor is due; you should oppose evil and support what is good, and what is true and what is beautiful
All of us are fallible. When we make a failure, when our character is found insufficient, the best response is to quickly admit it, point to our error directly, and purpose to do better in the future. Those who point out true failures are valuable to our own growth.
Its offensive that Rep. Cammack calls for Mrs. Certain to resign over a post on her personal FB page – which, by the way, is protected free speech per the U.S. Constitution.
I call for Cammack to resign for her complicity in protecting child rapists since she refuses to demand the release of the full Epstein files.
Cammack should be ashamed that while she has the power to act to find justice for the hundreds (some say thousands) of victims of Epstein and his rich, influential friends she refuses to do so.
Protecting child rapists will be Cammack’s legacy long after she is out of office, and a horrid legacy her daughter will need to live with.
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences!
What are you doing to help the victims? Its my sincere hope posting this isnt your idea of helping
Trump is brash, rude, insulting. There are many that say he brings out the worst in people. He does. Trump is a mirror. The evil hate is already inside those that respond to Trump in such negative ways. Sometimes much worse than the President. They will never own it. They will never change that part of themselves that is not Good and Truthful. I am a registered Democrat. I voted Trump this past election because Trump’s brash, rude, insulting, demeaning character has opened my eyes to what’s wrong with me and more importantly, the Democrat party.
Come on Tina, give us a break. While most of us agree that anyone can post pretty much anything they want to say in their personal posts, don’t put us in the position of having to defend stupidity. If you believe what you posted, then own it and stand by it. Don’t dissemble with the “poorly worded” excuse. As they say – “Be sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear.”
If Donald Trump can say whatever comes into his mind, so can Sarah Rockwell, Tina Certain and Jimmy Kimmel. Free speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, we lose everything.
Kirk was a white supremacist who dropped out of college and was funded by a billionaire to spread hate specifically in the form of white supremacist Christian nationalism. Tina Certain is simply correct to call him an uneducated white boy with a billionaire sugar daddy. He was a white boy who used his whiteness to do stochastic terrorism. He did not debate people, he argued with children and teens for viral clips. If he had actually honestly engaged in dialogue with experts, you would be able to show a place he changed his mind beyond him dropping the Epstein files bc Trump (who is in the Epstein files) told him to. Nothing Tina Certain said is wrong. Black folks and queer folks are allowed to celebrate the death of someone who said gay people should be stoned to death (as Kirk did) or people who said that Black women do not have the brain power to have their jobs unless they steal them from white people (which Kirk said). Kirk was a racist. And he was uneducated. And to glorify him is the state and the feds glorifying his hate. Otherwise there would have been a memorial for every single school shooting since Kirk–at least FOUR, and not just this focus on ONE MAN.