The local Moms For Liberty chapter and the two candidates it has endorsed have so little to offer our community that the fate of their whatever-it-takes campaign to retain control of the School Board now depends on a lie.
Their willingness to resort to such dishonesty in a desperate attempt to win an election next month should disgust all of us, given that these iron-fisted ideologues want to shape the future of our children’s education to fit their extreme partisan vision.
It might also be illegal – at least for the candidates, Rob MacCallum and Kevin McDonald, who are so consumed with their wrongheaded cause that they put their names to a blatant lie in a recently disseminated campaign ad.
But that’s all they’ve got.
One lie.
One ridiculously false claim that MacCallum’s District 3 opponent, incumbent Peggy Jones, doesn’t want to protect girls’ sports, locker rooms and restrooms in our schools.
One last-gasp, now-or-never attack on Jones, who dutifully chose principle over political expedience and courageously stood alone against the shameless, Moms-promoting publicity stunt brought to the dais in May by Jackie Rosario, the group’s most devoted puppet.
And they continue to spread their lie via social media, group text messages, email blasts and campaign literature, ignoring Florida Statute 104.271 (2), which prohibits candidates from making – “with actual malice” – false statements about an opposing candidate.
They do so even after being warned that the law states: If an “aggrieved candidate” files a complaint and the Florida Elections Commission determines the opponent is guilty, a civil penalty of up to $5,000 shall be assessed.
For those who don’t know: The U.S. Supreme Court has defined “actual malice” as knowingly false or with reckless disregard for the truth.
Both MacCallum and McDonald, though, continued to stand by their claims last week, despite indisputable audio-video evidence that proves they’re not being truthful about Jones’ reasons for opposing a nothing-of-substance resolution Rosario placed before the board at its May 20 meeting.
Both also continued to embrace the Moms’ endorsement, fully aware that the group has been feverishly pushing the lie for the past two months – and why it’s doing so.
The Moms know their support here comes from only the hard-right fringe of our community, where they represent a small minority of the parents who have children in our public schools.
They know MacCallum is a political newcomer whose negligible qualifications pale in comparison to those of Jones, the beloved former teacher, coach and principal who, in less than one term, has earned a place on the county’s Mount Rushmore of school board members.
They know David Dyer, McDonald’s District 5 opponent, brings to the race between island residents more name recognition and far superior credentials, which is why they’ve pathetically stooped to trying to taint him with his endorsement of Jones.
They know their only chance to avoid the national embarrassment of being rejected at the polls in the Moms’ birthplace, along with losing the undeserved School Board majority the governor handed them in April, is to sell you their despicable lie.
The Moms and their candidates need to convince you Jones isn’t who we know she is – the lifetime educator who has always cared deeply about our children and continues to put students’ best interests first.
They need you to believe, contrary to her long and distinguished record here, that Jones doesn’t care about protecting our daughters and granddaughters in school, particularly in athletics.
To be more specific: They want you to believe Jones supports proposed transgender-related changes to federal Title IX rules that would allow boys to compete in girls’ sports.
You can find this lie posted on the local Moms’ Facebook page no less than 15 times since that May board meeting at which Jones voted against Rosario’s premature and meaningless resolution opposing the proposed changes.
Some of the posts contain versions of the meeting video that have been amateurishly doctored in a juvenile attempt to emphasize Jones’ vote. At least one such version could be found on the McDonald campaign’s Facebook page, too.
“Obviously, they’re lying,” Jones said last week, after the Moms and their candidates continued to spread their twisted truth, which conveniently – and intentionally – fails to mention the reasonable and responsible explanation she offered for refusing to support the resolution.
“Watch the video,” she added. “I never said I supported biological boys playing on girls’ sports teams.”
Actually, Jones said the opposite, clearly and repeatedly voicing her commitment to state law, Florida High School Athletic Association bylaws and School Board policy, all of which protect girls’ sports by basing participation on biological sex at birth.
Her stance is exactly what you’d expect from a woman who – as an educator in the mid-1970s, shortly after Title IX became law – was the first Illinois public high school athletic director to oversee both boys’ and girls’ sports.
For 11 years, she served as the principal at Sebastian River High School, which started the nation’s first high school girls’ rugby team in 2009, then spent five years as assistant/associate executive director with the FHSAA.
Simply put: Jones has done more in her 50 years in education to champion the spirit of Title IX than anyone connected to the Moms, and to question her support for girls’ sports is either insincere or ignorant.
She voted against Rosario’s sham resolution because, when all factors were considered, it was the wise and thoughtful thing to do.
There was no good reason to adopt the resolution, other than to “send a message,” as Rosario put it, that the Title IX revisions were not acceptable in our district, where the Moms continue to focus on culture-war battles that do nothing to improve the quality of our children’s education.
It was purely symbolic, much like the Moms’ concocted crusade to ban school library books that weren’t being read.
Superintendent David Moore said the resolution would have no impact whatsoever on the district’s operations, because the board’s existing policy aligned with state law, which doesn’t allow biologically born boys to play girls’ sports.
Also, the board’s attorney warned that passing the resolution might invite an Office of Civil Rights investigation, which could result in a loss of federal funding and possibly require the district to spend tax dollars to defend itself in court.
And then there was Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz’s written recommendation that individual districts not take further action until receiving guidance from the state, which had already filed a legal challenge.
Was it really worth the risk, merely to give Rosario an opportunity to grandstand, wave the Moms’ banner and score points with the governor?
Jones didn’t think so, especially since the Title IX changes weren’t scheduled to take effect until August. That’s why she asked the board to postpone taking action on the resolution until July. Only after the Moms’ majority refused did she cast the lone vote against it.
As expected, the Moms pounced, posting on their Facebook page: “Peggy Jones doesn’t support girls sports and girls bathroom privacy.”
The claim was a demonstrable lie, but telling the truth doesn’t get their candidates elected.
Apparently, though, the Moms’ candidates believe this will: Earlier this month, they sent out a “Rob MacCallum for School Board” campaign ad that depicted a frightened young girl standing outside a school restroom and stated, “What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You … And Them!”
The ad then compared the positions of the “MacCallum/McDonald Team” and “Jones/Dyer Team,” echoing the absurd claim that the Jones-Dyer duo “Supports Boys in Girls Sports.”
The ad also stated that the Jones-Dyer pair “Supports Woke DEI Policy,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion, and “Oppose Parents Rights.” Both of those claims are lies, too.
It’s the false boys-in-girls-sports attack, however, that could cause problems for MacCallum-McDonald team – because their names are in the disclaimer at the bottom of the ad.
Both defended their lying guise, citing Jones’ vote and dismissing her explanation, but they did not address the possibility of legal consequences related to the ad.
Neither Jones nor Dyer, who has made no public statement about the proposed Title IX changes, would comment on any potential action they might take in response to the false claims.
Truth is, this politically driven lie should surprise no one, considering the past tactics employed by the Moms, who not too long ago – during their book-banning charade – brought to our community a known rabblerouser whose visit prompted death threats against Jones and other board members.
This is what they do.
“Seinfeld” fans might remember the episode where George tells Jerry, “It’s not a lie if you believe it.”
The Moms and their candidates apparently believe this lie, or are at least pretending that they do.
It’s all they’ve got.