Jerry Rutherford was elected to the Collier County school board in November 2022 and is receiving national attention after stating that he wanted to re-institute corporal punishment/physical discipline in schools, particularly for use with disabled students. He has also stated that he wants to see "less rights for the LGBTQ students." Only Ron DeSantis can remove a sitting school board member. Since DeSantis claims to want to always protect children, he should want to remove an elected official who promotes sanctioned child abuse.