The sub-mediocrity of Polk/Florida "public service" is a learned behavior. Mock it.

School Board Member Justin Sharpless and the ongoing hilarity of Florida Poly's presidential s-show demonstrate what the pursuit of status and grift above all does to the very idea of "service."

This picture of Polk County School Board member Justin Sharpless was taken on the evening of Tuesday, April 23, at a political fundraiser for 6-week forced birth sponsor Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland. That’s not Canady he’s with.

But you can see Canady and Grady Judd, literally campaigning in uniform, of course, below and to the left in this gallery of pictures from Mulberry commission candidate Dawn McDonald, about whom I know nothing.

To attend this pointless fundraiser, Justin needed to skip out on the actual job you pay him to do — that he asked you to give him in 2022 — serving your kids as a Polk County School Board Member. He needed to grift you out of the time you purchased from him with your vote. See this screenshot — and Justin’s empty chair I circled — from the meeting video.

When he was campaigning, Justin gave me his cell phone number and encouraged me to stay in touch. His willingness to engage has, shall we say, diminished since then. But I sent him a text about this anyway:

Hi Justin: I understand you bailed on the meeting on Tuesday to attend a Jennifer Canady fundraiser. I’m gonna write something about it. But I have two questions. 1) how is that choice/priority consistent with the oath you took? 2) did Jennifer tout her 6-week forced birth law in private (she won’t in public)? Thanks

He hasn’t answered me — and won’t.

Maybe he’ll answer you. Here’s his School Board email — justin.sharpless@polk-fl.net

The easiest elected gig isn’t easy enough for Justin

If you’re lazy and status-obsessed, School Board member in Florida is a good gig.

You get $40,000 and health insurance to show up for — maybe — 10 hours a month of meetings. We have a dictatorial state school system, so you have no real authority or responsibility to do anything. It’s the easiest local elected job in which to skate, by far, because it has the least formal influence, accountability, and responsibility.

Unelected local staff runs whatever the state doesn’t. And it’s super easy to ignore or avoid constituent requests — like William Allen does — or just refer them to the superintendent and declare “that’s not my job.”

The Legislature and governor want it that way. They want board members to skate and more or less cheat their voters.

Unless you’re trying to help constituents or change the system, everything you do as a board member is basically for ceremony and show. I tried to help constituents and change the system, relentlessly, which is why Team Sub-Mediocre rallied itself, like it never has before or since, to “stop” me. It remains a flattering commentary on how seriously I took my job.

Above all, the state wants elected local school board members to act as vague local blame shields for whatever DeSantis’ educrats and legislators like Jennifer Canady inflict on kids and teachers because they hate public education. They effectively (legally) bribe most school board members with a salary and health insurance to go along with it.

But as you can see from Justin, nobody even really enforces the bribe. Only doing your job intensely gets attacked.

A "leadership” culture taught Justin this choice

Justin campaigned as a serious, pro-public education Republican. He sought me out at various times and encouraged ongoing connection. He distanced himself from James Dunn’s Nolte-Sessions-Clark trio of gross CCDF candidates. He’s fundamentally nice. I didn’t vote for him; but I thought he’d be fine.

And I guess he has been “fine,” more or less, in the sense of being nothing. He’s a lot like William Allen that way, too. To be clear: nothing is much better than actively bad, especially when you have a reasonably competent superintendent. I’m not anxious for either Justin or William to do “more.” I understand that “preen and get-out-of-way” isn’t the worst thing in the world.

But Justin also makes an excellent case study in what the toxic cultural influence of Polk’s worthless leadership club teaches its wannabes. Justin Sharpless’ behavior suggests that he’s internalized a profound truth in his two years on the board:

It’s not what you do; it’s who you suck up to.

“Powerful” people have taught Justin there is no consequence for actively, literally refusing to do your job if the purpose of that refusal is sucking up to “powerful” people in the pursuit of status.

There is no consequence for choosing to bail on your taxpayer-funded job if you’re going to go be seen with Grady Judd and Jennifer Canady for what you imagine to be your own personal benefit. (Kay Fields bailed on a meeting in 2018 for her own personal fundraiser, by the way. There was no consequence for her either. But she’s since regained dignity and done some brave, admirable things. )

The public has taught Justin this lesson, too, although it be may starting to unteach it in Lake Wales, at least, where Justin also seems to be somewhat under the influence of his whiny political pastor, Lake Wales Mayor Jack Hilligoss. The Pastor/Mayor’s allies just took a drubbing in Lake Wales city elections. But the fake Christian CCDF grift is a different cultural strain — and not really what I’m talking about here.

I’m addressing something far more endemic to the “leadership class” of this county and state. And I am now trying to counteract what it teaches.

I am trying to teach Justin — contra the Lakeland Leads of the world — that there is, in fact, a public consequence for not taking your $40,000 “public service” job seriously.

Moreover, Justin, you need to understand this for your own well-being:

You will never be part of their club, no matter how School Board meetings you abandon for personal gain. Nobody that thirsty for membership ever gets to join.

There have been many, many Justins before you. More will come after you. I won’t name them publicly because I’m kind. But they know who they are. And I’m happy to refer you to them if you want. They can also teach you lessons about the precarious balance of dignity and status.

LOL, Mark Bostick: even “the Club” itself has no dignity

You can draw a direct line from the leadership culture that encourages Justin Sharpless to bail on his few public responsibilities to the absolutely hilarious leadership implosion at Florida Poly.

Short version: Florida Poly is an 80 percent male “STEM” university with Florida’s worst university graduation rate (31 percent) and no campus life. It can’t really decide if it wants to grow or double down on being small and selective. It is also completely dependent on taxpayers, facing majors cuts to the financial aid that has basically been paying foreign students to attend. It’s in desperate need of a clear, consistent vision for the next 15-20 years from a vigorous long-term leader who can implement it.

So naturally, it hired a 71-year white guy, with no STEM background, who comes from a state (former community) college with a bad graduation rate, to boldly lead Poly into the future. LOL. What else did you expect from the institution that put Kelli Stargel on the payroll for … reasons? This is Florida Sinecure University.

In short, as I’ve pointed out before, nobody in Polk County’s leadership class — not even J.D. — cares enough about the future of Florida Poly to actually do anything about it. So you shouldn’t care either. This Ledger article delves into the presidential shit show a little.

Williams was not the only trustee who vigorously opposed the hiring of Stephenson. Mark Bostick, a business executive from Winter Haven, employed strong language in arguing that Moo-Young was the better choice.

Before the vote, Bostick described the process as being “somewhat railroaded.” He suggested that hiring Stephenson would be “a disaster,” given his background, and warned that Florida Poly would become “a laughingstock.”

Bostick added: “Everybody needs to vote their conscience on what's best for the future of Florida Poly, and I'm not going to sell my soul to a guy from a community college with no STEM background.”

Check out Mark Bostick’s bio. If there is anybody “in the club,” he ought to be.

And then watch him get slapped down by a Florida Poly flunkie — and then roll over and take it.

The Ledger sent an email to Bostick requesting an interview. In a reply, he shared a note from Corporate Secretary Kristen Wharton to the trustees, reminding them that under their bylaws the chair serves as the spokesperson for the board.

Bwhahahahahahaha. Yes, laughingstock is right.

Ya’ll “sell your souls” every day, Mark. And for what?

Poly wants you to *pay* to listen to *your* public meeting. So don’t.

I was gently needling someone I respect about this Poly fiasco. He encouraged me to listen to the Trustee meeting. So I tried.

But it’s not archived on the university website. I sent a note to that same flunkie who dominated Bostick — Kristen Wharton — seeking her help in finding the meeting recording. Here is the email I got back, along with another email from the General Counsel’s Office.

Good morning,

You can obtain the recording through a public records request. I’ve copied them on this email so they can accommodate your request.

Thank you,

Kristen

And then …

Hello,

We have received your request. We will forward your request to the appropriate departments and provide you with an invoice for the estimated cost for the amount of time it will take to compile and review the requested items, if any. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Here’s how I responded.

No thanks. I withdraw my public records request, which wasn’t a public records request, for the basic audio of the most important public meeting the college will likely ever have. I will pay you nothing for the honor of receiving this record. And I will just laugh at you in public. 

I’ll let you all decide who in this article takes “public service” the most seriously — “public servants” or the guy laughing at them.