Questions To the Watauga School Board Candidates -- Asked and Answered

 

Michael Ackerman,
former candidate for Congress

On or about August 18, Jay Fenwick and the other candidates for the Watauga County Board of Education received a letter from Michael Ackerman with nine questions. He requested -- more like demanded really -- answers to those nine questions by a date certain (today, I think) and said he would publish all the answers in a letter to the editor to the local press.

Ackerman is a persistant activist for flipping education in Watauga Couty. He's a regular at public comment time in front of the school board. He was really stirred up about the mask mandate. He's perhaps most infamous for the "scare tactics" he pulled on the school board back in February. He took the podium and said: "With great sadness and resolve I do stand before you tonight and inform you that you have left us with no other option but to serve each of you with letters of intent to file claims against your surety bonds.”

It was all nonsense, of course. Which Jay Fenwick exposed here.

When Ackerman ran against Virginia Foxx in the Republican primary in May, he hosted frequent Facebook Live events and often referred to the Watauga School Board as his number one cause in politics. Why he was running against Foxx was never very clear.

Jay Fenwick answered Ackerman's nine questions, and they, along with the original questions, are reproduced verbatim below, preceded by the intercepted cover letter that Fenwick sent to Ackerman:

Mr. Ackerman,

I thank you for the opportunity to address these questions for you and others that may be interested. However, I have concerns about your plans for publication. You vaguely ask for answers to be short and concise in anticipation of publication restrictions. Yet most of these questions are quite politically charged which necessitates a fuller explanation. I think information for the electorate should be more expansive, not less. The electorate needs more depth of understanding to make these important decisions.

Respectfully, Jay Fenwick.

 -------------------------------------------------

Ackerman Q1) Based on what you now know, do you believe a forced mask mandate was the right decision for our students?

Fenwick

I stand by my decisions on requiring masks during the COVID outbreak for the safety of our students, our employees, the families of our students and employees, and the community at large. My decisions were based on the advice and recommendations of our national, state, and local health professionals. I am grateful that we did not have any school closures during the two full years of COVID. We did not have any outbreak clusters in schools during the very contagious times when masks were being worn. We did not have any student or staff members die due to COVID, and had only a very few cases that might be considered severe. Many school districts that made decisions different than ours unfortunately did suffer through some of these painful consequences.

Ackerman Q2) Would you support a forced mask mandate for our students in the future?  If yes, briefly describe under what circumstances.

As in the past, I would be guided primarily by the advice and recommendations of the appropriate medical professionals. I continue to believe that mask wearing is an effective layer of protection against transmission of sickness. If another new, highly contagious virus were to present itself, or another virulent strain of an existing virus, then I could foresee needing this layer of protection again. 

Ackerman Q3) We have seen a growing number of educators in this country feeling it necessary to discuss intimate details of their personal lives with their students.  Is this something you support, or would you rather see educators maintain a strictly professional relationship with their students?

All of us are of course aware that personal interaction cannot cross the line into inappropriate intimacy. WCS has clear policies on staff-student relations and the professionalism expected. Principals and directors review these policies with staff each year. However, a professional relationship can also be a personal one; these are not mutually exclusive. I think it has always been a strength of WCS that our teachers care so deeply about their students. They attend student sporting events, artistic performances, etc. They laugh, cry, and celebrate with their students. I think most of our teachers would say that they love their students like their own children.

Ackerman Q4) Do you support the teaching of any kind of sexuality (hetero, homo, bi,or trans) to students preK-6th grade?

None of these words appear in any state curriculum standard or related curriculum documents such as planning guides. We expect our teachers to follow the state's curriculum standards and I believe that they do because they are education professionals.

Ackerman Q5) Do you support teaching sexuality outside of the realm of biological health education for grades 7-8?

I do not see any reason for teaching sexuality outside of the Healthful Living curriculum. I am not aware of any curriculum standards outside of Healthful Living that cover topics related to sexuality.

Ackerman Q6) The American Federation of Teachers has created a "card" to help educators keep secrets from the parents of their students regarding gender identity.  Is this something you support?  https://www.foxnews.com/media/aft-promotes-method-teachers-help-kids-change-pronouns-without-parents-knowing

I am not aware of any use of a "card" such as this in our schools. But to answer your question I did some research into this, and believe the question misrepresents the facts involved. This "card" is more fully identified as a "student information card." It was not created to help teachers keep secrets from parents. It was created as a resource for teachers' professional consideration as they begin a new school year. High quality teaching and learning requires a relationship of trust. To learn effectively, students must feel safe to make mistakes. Building this relationship of trust takes time, and it begins on day 1. Like it or not, students may tell their friends or teachers things that they have not yet shared with their families. Teachers and counselors are professionals and know how to help students think about challenging personal issues and guiding them to involve and inform their families themselves. And obviously serious matters would be brought to the parents attention immediately. 

Ackerman Q7) There has been discussion at the federal level to tie certain federal funds for public schools to CRT/Gender Identity curriculum.  Would you accept those funds for the district with those stipulations, or would you refuse those funds?

This question also misrepresents the facts. The federal Department of Education (DOE) does not dictate or mandate curriculum, and in fact is barred by statute from doing so. What you are likely referring to is an event in the spring of 2021 when the DOE proposed, for public comment, two priorities for history and civics education. Identifying these as priorities would later enable grant programs to support those areas. In the proposal, there were a couple of works provided as examples that have come under scrutiny including "The 1619 Project." These works were not mandated and the priorities themselves were not any type of mandate or curriculum. Regarding strings attached to funding, we are always open to consideration of funding options outside of the normal state and local allocation processes. But we do scrutinize those opportunities and have refused some offered funds due to potential questions of appropriateness. 

Ackerman Q8) Would you support and implement live streaming of all school board meetings so that parents who cannot attend can at least observe the meetings?

I am open to conversation on this issue. 

Ackerman Q9) Would you support and implement some sort of vehicle to allow parents more participation in school board meetings, or create some sort of public forums on a regular basis where parents could ask the board specific questions and get answers?

This past year the board has listened to many people during the public comment portion of its monthly meeting. Being responsive to some of those requests, we moved the public comment forward in the agenda and highlighted specific topics as separate agenda items. Our current meeting rules allow 3 minutes for speakers, but this has not quite been enough time for many speakers. I would support increasing the speaker's time to provide a greater opportunity for them to convey their full thoughts. And, I would support a small panel of board members and administrators to visit schools for informal listening sessions between the regular board meetings. As we face controversial topics we need to hear from as wide a cross-section of people as we can, and the monthly Monday meeting at the board office may be inconvenient for many.

-- 

Jay Fenwick
Member, Watauga Board of Education

Virginia Foxx's Republican Rival, Not Ready for PrimeTime

 

Michael Ackerman, Virginia Foxx's 2022 primary challenger, sent the letter below -- with its "very strange request" -- to Democratic Party activists in the 5th CD:

I hope you all are doing well. I have a very strange request. I know you and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum on most issues, and I respect that. You know I am in a primary battle with Virginia Foxx. She is an establishment Republican that is deep entrenched into the DC swamp. Now that the new Congressional 5th District includes your County I wanted to humbly ask if you would consider voting for me in the primary on May 17. I am also asking if you would talk with some of your Democratic or Unaffiliated friends to consider voting for me in the primary.

NC as I am sure you know has an open primary, which means anyone can vote in the primary. The Democratic Party only has only one person running for Congress in the 5th District, so there is no Democratic Primary. Mrs. Foxx is corrupt and uses her position to increase her personal wealth. This is not an unsubstantiated statement. She is part of the Political Elite that is the main problem in politics in our nation.

Like I said I know we disagree on many issues, but hopefully I have proven to you that regardless of where we stand I am willing to talk and listen. I respect you as a person and support your right to believe in what you do. Thank you for considering this.

Sincerely,

Michael S. Ackerman

Candidate US House of Representatives

NC as I am sure you know has an open primary. 

Well, not quite. It's an "open" primary for those registered "Unaffiliated," who may request either a Republican or a Democratic ballot. It most assuredly is not open for registered Republicans and registered Democrats (let alone Democratic Party officers, to whom this letter went), who must vote the ballot of their party. Ackerman might have asked -- hilariously -- for his target Democrats to change their registration to "Unaffiliated" to vote for him. They would have to make that change by April 22nd. No one can change his party affiliation during Early Voting, which begins on April 28th.

Ackerman is well known to the Watauga County School Board as the anti-masker who made threats of lawsuits and other retaliations. He didn't have his facts straight then, either.

Update on Candidate Filings: Cawthorn Back in the 11th

 

Michele Woodhouse at the
CPAC convention

Madison Cawthorn moved his candidate filing from the 13th (old news) back to his original stomping grounds. He has a bunch of primary opponents, but so far, no Michele Woodhouse, though if you look at her Facebook page you'd see her running hard for darling of CPAC. She has until this Friday at noon to get her name on the ballot.

Whether or not Woodhouse gets in, the odds are still tilted in Cawthorn's favor, since the anti-Cawthorn vote is going to be split up among at least five others. Unless Cawthorn can't get to 30% of the primary vote and he has to face just one of those Republican challengers in a run-off.

Incidentally, the challenge to Cawthorn's eligibility went away when the new map was adopted, because his challengers no longer live in the affected district. Remains to be seen whether voters in the new 11th CD will refile the challenge based on the insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment.

Meanwhile, Madam Virginia Foxx has two Republican primary challengers -- Michael Ackerman, who's been a leader in the anti-masking show of force in front of the Watauga School Board; and Adina Safta (photo below), who actually lives in Raleigh. What's her deal? So far as I can tell, she has no campaign presence on Twitter or Facebook, no campaign website that I can find, and she wasted her opportunity on Ballotpedia, responding to their candidate survey questionnaire while managing to say precisely nothing of substance. She does use the word "freedom" a lot.

The Rest of the Story -- The Watauga School Board Meeting on Feb. 14

 

Scare tactics

by Jay Fenwick, 19 Feb 2022

Previously I reported to you about the February 14, 2022, Watauga Board of Education meeting. That report covered one agenda item only, our mask policy. But the February 14th meeting offered much more excitement.

(I repeat the "disclaimer" here that these are my personal opinions and recollections. My purpose is simply to share a fuller description of events to keep you informed of what is happening at YOUR school board meetings.) 

The public comment portion of the meeting always begins with the board chair reminding speakers of the rules of etiquette that are typical at public meetings. Speakers are allowed 3 minutes, are expected to be courteous in their language, are to speak to the board as a whole, and should not expect back-and-forth conversation with the board. 

Six persons signed up to speak to the board, but Jennifer Hanifan (who has filed to run for the Board of Education) declined when her name was called. The first four speakers all asked to end the mask mandate and provided their unique personal perspectives. I carefully listen to all of our public speakers. I often take notes on what they say. Some people think the board is being disrespectful or ignoring the voices of the speakers. It is unfortunate that they just can not accept that one can truly listen to them but then choose not to do what they ask. Maybe they haven't raised teenagers yet?

Michael Ackerman,
Candidate for Congress

But the drama was yet to come. The last speaker, Mr. Michael Ackerman, has addressed the board each month since September. In addition, there has been voluminous communication with him via email between meetings. And it should be noted that Mr. Ackerman has organized a campaign for U.S. Congress that hosts frequent Facebook Live events, often referring to the Watauga School Board.

Both Superintendent Scott Elliott and the board attorney have previously addressed the meeting about a recent conspiracy theory surrounding "surety bonds," involving a website called BondsForTheWin.com. They both explained that NC law does not require surety bonds for school board members. And they encouraged school board members not to be swayed by tactics akin to bullying.

Mr. Ackerman again chastised the board for what he sees as its disrespect for the voices wanting an end to the mask mandate. He also again chastised the board for not altering the format of its public comment. He then quoted from the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence. I do agree with him that this is amazing and powerful language: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Ackerman then said, "With great sadness and resolve I do stand before you tonight and inform you that you have left us with no other option but to serve each of you with letters of intent to file claims against your surety bonds.”

On that choreographed cue, two men stood up in the audience, flanked Mr. Ackerman at the podium, and then walked toward the board members with stacks of large manilla envelopes. Superintendent Elliott, the board attorney, and two deputies began to loudly request that the men halt. It's not a large room. The men ignored the admonitions and were already in front of the board members. They began rifling through their packets of envelopes trying to match up the board member nameplates with the labels on the envelopes they had. In the end, they "served" 8 persons: each board member, the Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendent, and the Finance Director. Board members did not open the envelopes and simply handed them to the attorney.

Mr. Ackerman concluded his remarks stating that this was not a legal action but an insurance claim action, and that we had 72 hours to comply.

What exactly was in the envelopes? I can only tell you what was in the packet that I received but am confident that the others were identical. My packet contained three bundles of documents. Each bundle was from a different person making a claim, and each claim consisted of two parts, an 8-page "Declaration of Fact" and about 40 pages of materials that Superintendent Elliott had submitted in response to a public information request for surety bonds, policies related to insurance and bonding, and oaths of office.

The language in the "Declaration" is legal-sounding:

• "...expressed in the form of an obligation containing my wet ink autograph that I have personal knowledge of and asseverate the following...."
• "...I, a man, ------------- claim ------------------ as my offspring.
  I, a man, ------------- claim my body, information, and genetic material, including my offspring, are my Property."
• "...I, a man, ---------------- retain my right to decline all attempts to access, influence, and or otherwise alter any of my Property, my God given biological material, my biological systems, and or that of my minor offspring."

A section boldly labeled "Direct and Constructive Notice" contains numerous legal citations that supposedly demonstrate that school board members have stepped outside their oaths and responsibilities, violated state and federal law and the Constitution itself with our mask policy. 

It demands that the school board cease and desist within 72 hours forced mask wearing, social distancing, COVID testing. It also includes a clause demanding the immediate removal of all materials (books, media, lesson plans, etc.) that promote a variety of things like "tribalism within our nation" and "deconstruction of the nuclear family," among others. 

It then says that each board member must rebut these claims within 10 days. (What happened to 72 hours?) And it concludes with a reminder of my obligation to a timely response: "Silence will result in your acquiescence and tacit agreement."

All three claims are signed and then notarized by school board candidate Jennifer Hanifan.

NC DHHS has announced a big change in their COVID guidance, and the CDC has hinted at some big changes coming in their guidance. I see another school board meeting already on the calendar.

This local newspaper article captures a good bit of the public comment portion of the Feb 14th meeting.

https://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/local/board-of-ed-splits-3-2-keeps-masking-in-place-for-now/article_82d49afc-0209-5f1f-a9fe-d421ed79f3a9.html

Jay Fenwick is a member of the Watauga County Board of Education

Virginia Foxx, Too 'Establishment'?

Michael Ackerman of Boone is the newest Republican to announce that he'll challenge Congresswoman Virginia Foxx in the 2022 Republican primary. There's already a 25-year-old, Bo Hines of Winston-Salem, in the race. Both challengers are central casting conservative. There's not a dime's worth of difference between their philosophical positions and Foxx's. Their main beef with Foxx is that she's been in Washington too long.

Moss Brennan reports that "when ... Donald Trump ran for office, Ackerman said he saw the 'curtain' being pulled back on the 'political machine' in Washington, D.C. He said he saw how both Democrats and Republicans were fighting to keep the establishment ways as they care more about 'the power' and 'the money that they’re getting' by being in office."

True dat! About getting rich in public office.

“We didn’t elect them to represent their self interests,” Ackerman said. “They’re there to represent us. Whether they’re Democrat or whether they’re Republican, they should be representing their constituency. I started to see what was really going on up there was that there were too many people who’ve been up there way too long. [They] have really forgotten why they’re there and, they’ve gotten too comfortable.”

Congresswoman has pretty regularly attracted primary challengers, none of whom get very far.