SMFNews: Jacksonville Families Call for Accountability After School Board Member’s Anti-Islam Post
Header photo: Duval County Public Schools headquarters, Jacksonville, Fla. Photo: Michael Rivera (CC BY-SA 3.0); adapted by SMF.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Muslim families in Jacksonville are calling for accountability after Duval County School Board member Tony Ricardo reshared a Facebook post that described Islam as “not a religion” and a “political cult masquerading as a faith,” News4JAX reported. The post has since been deleted from Ricardo’s personal Facebook page, but a screenshot of the reshare continues to circulate online.
The controversy drew a record 101 people to sign up for public comment at the board’s Monday, Nov. 9, meeting, the first since the post was shared, Jacksonville Today reported. Ricardo, who represents District 1, has not spoken publicly about the post and did not respond to commenters at the meeting, according to Jacksonville Today.
A packed meeting
Speakers were divided. Some defended the post as speech protected by the First Amendment. Others questioned Ricardo’s judgment in sharing inflammatory comments about a major world religion whose followers include people he was elected to represent, as well as teachers and students in his district, Jacksonville Today reported.
Ranna Abduljawad, a Muslim American and Duval County Public Schools parent, told News4JAX that the moment calls for accountability from the board. “If there’s no accountability, this can amplify,” she said.
A sixth-grade student who said she is a practicing Muslim also addressed the board. “As a Muslim child, I should never have to wonder whether the people making decisions about my education respect my faith or see me as less than others,” she said, according to Jacksonville Today.
Meeting briefly recessed
Public comment was halted shortly before 8:15 p.m. after a speaker who identified himself as Jake Lang made further anti-Muslim remarks that drew immediate backlash, News4JAX reported. Attendees called the remarks hate speech. Board Chair Charlotte Joyce ordered the auditorium cleared, and the board briefly recessed.
Jacksonville Today reported that a handful of the speakers who defended Ricardo, including Lang, were part of a coordinated show of support organized by influencers who do not live in North Florida. When the meeting resumed, speakers waited in a separate room and were brought in one at a time to make their comments.
Board members respond
Most board members addressed the evening’s events at the end of the meeting; Ricardo did not, according to Jacksonville Today. Board member Melody Bolduc said, “My Christian faith calls me to love my neighbor, whether or not we agree.” District 4 member Darryl Willie, attending his last board meeting, apologized to “our Muslim families, anybody who’s in the room, anybody who witnessed, was a part of that.”
“Tonight, I’ll leave us with this statement right here for everybody: Our kids are watching,” Willie said.
What the board can and cannot do
At a special meeting on Tuesday morning, Nov. 10, Willie called for some form of action against Ricardo, First Coast News reported. Other members acknowledged the community’s frustration but said their authority to discipline an elected colleague is limited.
Under Florida law, elected school board members can be removed from office, but that authority rests with the governor rather than the board, according to First Coast News.
Dina Zakaria, a substitute teacher in the district, told First Coast News that an apology alone would not be enough. “If Tony Ricardo isn’t reprimanded, if he’s not censured, if he doesn’t resign, then that means that at the highest level of Duval County Public Schools there are no repercussions for saying that kind of thing,” she said.
First Coast News said it contacted Ricardo and the school district on Tuesday for comment and had not received a response. As of Tuesday evening, SMF News had found no public statement from Ricardo about the post.
Sources
News4JAX (Nov. 9, 2026); Jacksonville Today (Nov. 10, 2026); First Coast News (Nov. 10, 2026).
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