{"id":291124,"date":"2025-10-10T05:18:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/291124\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T05:18:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:18:21","slug":"shirts-worn-by-dcps-board-members-at-recent-meeting-reading-this-is-the-turning-point-spark-parental-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/291124\/","title":{"rendered":"Shirts worn by DCPS board members at recent meeting reading \u2018this is the turning point\u2019 spark parental outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 Duval County school board members are facing backlash from parents over pink shirts they wore at a recent meeting. <\/p>\n

The shirts, worn by four board members, including Chair Charlotte Joyce, Vice Chair April Carney, Tony Ricardo, and Melody Bolduc, featured the phrase \u201cThis Is The Turning Point\u201d in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. <\/p>\n

However, some parents believe the message is linked to the conservative group Turning Point, founded by Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last month.<\/p>\n

Erin Sharer, a parent in the district, voiced her frustration, saying, \u201cWe want less political theater from our non-partisan elected officials.\u201d She criticized the board members for appropriating the color pink, which represents breast cancer awareness, to promote what she called \u201cdivisive rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharer explained her concerns in a Zoom interview, stating, \u201cTurning Point is a political organization. They have a PAC, and they\u2019re a highly divisive one at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandy Rubin is another DCPS parent who shared her frustrations over the shirts during the meeting on Tuesday during public comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI currently get care for preventative breast cancer due to my very high risk profile, and I see your shirts that is shameful to appropriate and take away awareness for breast cancer to advance this divisiveness,\u201d Rubin said.<\/p>\n

Board Chair Charlotte Joyce responded to the controversy in a phone interview. She said the shirts were inspired by a memorial for Charlie Kirk and were not official Turning Point merchandise. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really have a pink shirt or a pink anything. I don\u2019t wear pink. So I\u2019m going to, I\u2019ll get a t-shirt, and just to remember Charlie Kirk, I\u2019ll put freedom on it,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n

Rubin felt like the message was aligning with Charlie Kirk\u2019s organization, Turning Point. News4JAX spoke with her over Zoom just a few minutes before she went into a mammogram appointment. <\/p>\n

\u201cI saw pink at first, and I assumed it was, you know, they\u2019re typical, just people trying to spread awareness about breast cancer, which was nice. And then I read what was on the shirts, and it was a little bit like a slap in the face,\u201d Rubin said. \u201cIt was just pretty shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joyce added that she wanted the shirt to carry a meaningful message related to breast cancer awareness and difficult conversations. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it\u2019s the turning point. We need a turning point in America where, you know, we can get rid of a disease, or we can have an open dialogue and conversation without yelling at people. And I thought it was very appropriate for that, you know, that messaging for that night. I never…wanted it to offend anyone. That was not my intention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharer found the shirts hypocritical, especially as the district investigates teacher and activist Hope McMath<\/a> for political statements made on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they do in their personal time, it\u2019s different, but this was a public school board meeting in which they were on duty, acting as nonpartisan school board officials,\u201d Sharer said.<\/p>\n

When asked about parents\u2019 concerns that the shirts could be seen as a political stance, Joyce clarified, \u201cIt was not a Turning Point USA t-shirt, It was not bought from… I had it made, and it said, \u2018This is the turning point.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier addressed ongoing investigations into teachers temporarily reassigned due to social media posts during Tuesday night\u2019s meeting. While he did not confirm specific names, it is assumed Hope McMath is among those under review. <\/p>\n

Bernier said details could not be shared until investigations are complete.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Duval County school board members are facing backlash from parents over pink shirts they wore…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":291125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,56179,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-291124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-duval-county-public-schools","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115348183928848646","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}