The Damage is Already Being Done
Election Day is Tuesday. After a campaign season fueled by culture wars, I fear that no matter who wins on Tuesday, the damage to public education has already been done.
I am a Monroe County School Board member who was re-elected, to my second term, on August 23rd. My campaign platform was simple: Let’s spend less time preparing our kids for standardized testing and more time preparing them for life. And let’s respect and retain our great teachers. My campaign slogan was “For Local Matters, Being a Local Matters.” My opponent moved from the adjacent county, in 2021, expressly to run against me. She ran a very politicized race that focused on “Education not Indoctrination” and received the endorsements of Governor Ron DeSantis and the 1776 Project PAC, an organization committed to abolishing critical race theory from the public schools.
I am grateful to live in a community (the Florida Keys) that overwhelming supports its public schools. I have spent a lot of time, as a school board member and local education expert, strengthening those connections between our local community and our schools. As a candidate, I was prepared to defend my record and my opinions, as an outspoken public education advocate (and edu-blogger). I was disheartened when my opponent’s campaign tactics turned towards false narratives denigrating our local teachers and schools. As she used increasingly inflammatory rhetoric – suggesting our schools were dangerous to children, secretly embedding Critical Race Theory (CRT) into our curriculum, teaching sex education in kindergarten, “grooming” and otherwise harming students (not true, of course) and failing academically (also, not true) – I worried that the constant barrage of negative attacks (radio commercials every 15 minutes for weeks) could harm our schools’ reputations and chip away at community support.
At the final community campaign event, a “Meet the Candidates” event on August 17th, I expressed my concerns publicly:
“Our schools are good because our community supports them. I am appalled by the nonstop negative campaign ads that have virtually nothing to do with the reality of what is happening in our schools.
We must reject these politically motivated lies that attack our teachers and our schools.
We have great teachers in Monroe. Our teachers deserve respect, not to be accused of indoctrinating or otherwise harming our children. NO ONE supports teaching Sexual Content in Kindergarten. Such insinuations could permanently damage our schools’ reputations.
Teachers who are respected and treated like the professionals they are, will be more likely to stay in the classroom. Our children need great teachers in every classroom…
I humbly ask you for your vote on Tuesday. Let’s stop this partisan nonsense and get back to supporting our kids and schools.”
- 8/17/22 Upper Keys BPW Candidate "Meet and Greet" Islamorada
I am happy to say that I won. I had overwhelming support from my local teachers and community and I’m grateful to have another four years serving our students, our families and our entire community.
It turns out, however, I was right to be concerned about the effects of inflammatory political rhetoric on our schools and our community. The spread of these false narratives is harmful to community support.
This week I learned of graduate research from Michigan State University’s College of Education which looked at the impact of exposure to inaccurate information regarding CRT on an individual’s willingness to trust local teachers. The graduate students, Annie Gensterblum, Ariell Bertrand, and Sandy Frost Waldron, were the recent guests on the “Have You Heard” podcast, where they were winners of the 2022 Have You Heard Graduate Research Contest. You can, and should, listen to them discuss their research here.
The researchers collected responses from 1,500 Michiganders, in September and October 2021 through The State of the State Survey (SOSS). They polled residents to see where they were receiving most of their information about CRT and how often they heard misleading information. In general, Michiganders were hearing a lot of misinformation about CRT:
“We provided a list of eight inaccurate statements about CRT that are commonly reported across a range of media. Participants were asked to select all statements they had heard. Most Michiganders had heard at least one inaccurate statement (79%) and nearly half (42%) had heard all the inaccurate statements…”
“It was clear from our survey that these groups were hearing very different messages from the media they were consuming. Republicans were far more likely than Democrats to report they heard the following inaccurate statements: CRT teaches children to be racist (66% vs 26%); CRT is an attempt to indoctrinate children (75% vs. 42%); and that CRT teaches children to hate the United States (75% vs 51%). Republicans are more likely to believe that CRT is being taught in Michigan public schools (54% vs 24%).”
The authors noted that, not surprising, those who had been more exposed to the false CRT rhetoric were less likely to trust their local teachers to discuss sensitive topics, like race and racism, in the classroom and more likely to support a formal ban on CRT in the classroom. The lack of trust was in spite of the vast majority of Michiganders agreeing (79%) that fairness and equity were important values that should be taught in public schools.
Christopher Rufo, the political strategist who weaponized CRT, has announced he is now “preparing a strategy of laying siege to the institutions,” in part by promoting “school choice.” “School choice,” of course, is a euphemism for privatization. In a speech at the far-right Hillsdale College, entitled “Laying Siege to the Institutions,” Rufo outlined his plan:
At one point, he suggested that much of his work to heighten public outrage around schools’ handling of everything from U.S. racial history to the pandemic to gender and sexuality could serve a larger goal: “creat[ing] the conditions for fundamental structural change.”
“For example,” he said, “to get universal school choice you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust.”
In Florida, after 20 years of continually expanding school “choice,” parents have continued to overwhelming choose public schools. The majority of families choosing vouchers return to the public school system within 2-3 years, likely because of the lack of quality private schools accepting the vouchers. How do you push forward with privatization when communities (stubbornly) continue to support, and families continue to choose, public school? Answer: Create a massive disinformation campaign to sow “universal distrust.” And what better time to do it than during a campaign season, where you can simultaneously gin up enough anger to drive your base to the polls.
After my Election Day victory in August, I was interviewed by the local press. I discussed my concerns regarding my opponent’s use of false narratives to denigrate our schools and teachers, as well as my hopes for the future.
“I was concerned going into the race that my personal record would be attacked, but as the race went on, I was really disheartened at the attacks that could be happening towards our schools and teachers. I’ve been working really hard in the last four years to build relationships with the community and the schools, and I think we’re going to have to rebuild some of that trust from the community because of these false narratives,” Woltanski said.
“Our schools are great, but they can be better. We need to work on that. They are not a dangerous place to send your children and you do not have to worry that something bad is going to happen at one of our schools at the hands of one of our Monroe County school teachers,” she said.
Woltanski’s victory is the start of what she sees as a rebuilding process.
“I do think we are going to have to rebuild that reputation within our schools, and it’s really sad. I was happy to defend myself, but I didn’t think I was going to have to defend the teachers and the schools,” she said.
In the current political climate, is it possible to combat a national dis-information campaign and retain support for our local public schools? Time will tell. The constant barrage of false narratives has taken its toll this campaign season. The only remaining question is whether the damage to our schools and our communities is repairable.
Again, this article is very misleading. I was at that event. At no time did your opponent profess what you continued to say she did. She never attacked teachers. You used that slander to promote yourself. She did video after video stating she was for teachers as she was a teacher. After spending over $60,000 on a social media campaign slandering her you won. There are issues in the Monroe County district. No one said the schools were bad. They brought up paperwork issues that took away parental rights and asked for them to be adjusted. They brought up medical forms that were overreaching and asked for them to be adjusted. They brought up books that were not age appropriate and asked for that to be addressed. Parents are not the enemy and continually spreading that parents and your opponents are anti-school and anti-teacher is your choice, it is not want I see them doing. I have been watching both sides for awhile. I have tried to work with you myself and found you uncaring and I have never had you address anything I brought up. It would be nice if you would stop calling your community member names, and stop slandering them with false rhetoric. We all are seeing what you are doing. And while I did listen to your side, I am not on the side of “some porn” in books being ok for literary content. I am not ok with pushing one side of issues in our community. I am mostly disappointed in what I see coming from your blogs, as it shows a complete disrespect for local parents and our whole community. You are the one pushing these divisive ideas. It is not helpful and not appreciated. I truly wish you would chose to work with parents and families and stop this.
With all due respect, at that event, my opponent worked the crowd showing them screen shots of the FLDOE and CDC mandated YBRS survey for high school juniors and seniors (no longer participated in by Florida), telling them it was a test from a sex ed class for 11 and 12 year olds and that I wanted to bring it back to Monroe. That was false information. Her mailers said I “supported sexual content being taught in K-3 classrooms,” also false which is why I had to clearly state “NO ONE supports teaching Sexual Content in Kindergarten.” I am interested in where you think my media campaign slandered her or where you believe I am calling community members names. As for the rest, we will have to agree to disagree, there are not enough hours in the day. My goal is to ensure we have high quality, safe public schools that serve all children in our community. This blog’s purpose is to point out Florida education policy that stands in the way of that effort. Let’s set up a time to chat over coffee if you have issues that you feel need to be addressed in Monroe. Have a blessed day.
Will you state here and now that you will not support the FSBA resolution to bring back the YRBS and that you will stand with parent to prevent the ABES?
Will you stand with parents to prevent unnecessary surveys like the Covitality surveys done last year in Monroe? As you stood against unnecessary testing?
Will you completely stop calling moms facists and liars as you did in past posts? Or insinuating falsely that they are homophobic or anti-gay etc.
I believe you believe they are facists and liars and homophobic. The problem is this is an imaginary figment of your imagination.
I see you fighting to save the world from imaginary foes. The parents who bring up the issues to you are not what you believe them to be. As a parent, when you imagine I am that, you see me as an enemy and you do not listen.
All of it is in your imagination. You have no enemy to fight.
That is what we are trying to tell you.
Dear anonymous parent, the FSBA does not have a resolution to bring back the YRBS. Such a proposal was pulled by the Executive Leadership before it was voted on by the full BOD at a meeting I was unable to attend because of a personal commitment. The FSBA would like to be involved in helping to create the Florida version of the survey, I believe, but I have no plans of participating in that process.
I do not believe I have ever referred to moms as fascists, though I may have quoted someone who was concerned about such things. I certainly do not believe that Monroe’s parents are fascists, liars, homophobes or “an enemy.” I have spent a decade working with hundreds of (more?) parents for the benefit of their children and our schools. I am happy to hear that you, too, believe we are not enemies. As I have repeated, here and throughout my campaign and tenure on the board, my goal is to ensure we have high quality, safe public schools that serve all children in our community. This blog’s purpose is to point out Florida education policy that stands in the way of that effort. If you have issues that you feel need to be addressed in Monroe, let’s set up a time to chat over coffee. You will have to contact me to arrange since you have chosen to remain anonymous. Have a blessed day.
The “inaccurate statements” are subjective opinion statements, not factual content statements. Your whole position founded on the importance of the study sounds like a house of cards built on sand. Your campaign like your position here is full of propaganda, lies and divisive rhetoric. As a school board member, it is terrifying to think if you can’t tell the difference between fact and opinion, you should not be in charge of our children’s education.
Nope, those are inaccurate statements regarding what Critical Race Theory actually is. I know the theory has been weaponized to anger parents and drive them to the polls and away from public schools, but those statements are false. But rest assured, I am not “in charge” of your children’s education, I am simply one member of a board of 5, duly elected to provide public oversight of our local public schools.
I’m a retired public school teacher, Reading Specialist, taught HS English in Miami, Middle School English there also, Elementary Reading pull out, and retired as an Associate Professor with a doctorate. Went back to part time teaching at Title 1 schools after retirement.
I note that the people criticizing the winning school board member here did not use their names… my guess is that they are part of the wave of organized “mothers” who are trying to promote the false narratives promulgated by the bully governor of Florida. The fact that the losing candidate moved to Monroe County to run for the SchoolBoard slot? Part of a group trying to take down public schools and will dispense lies to do it. Moms for Liberty?