It was June, 2021, in the midst of the pandemic. Current Coronado School Board candidate Gerri Machin and her “We the Parents Coronado (WTPC)” group were haranguing the school board at every meeting. As COVID infections were raging across the country, Machin stood before the board to call masks “child abuse” while her group was repeatedly opposing vaccines.
WTPC also made false claims about academic programs that were not even being taught at our public schools. They railed against the No Place for Hate program to mitigate racism and bullying on campus. They were dead set against the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion program, even though it’s embraced by the United States Department of Defense and more than 40-percent of CUSD students are from military families.
The Defense Department views Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as a “force multiplier” that helps the military achieve critical missions. Similar programs are embraced by many Fortune 500 Companies and scores of successful public schools throughout the country. In schools, it helps students interact with others of different ethnicity or religion, see one another as equals, and promotes the inclusion of everyone. Yet Machin and her group condemned these concepts as “Marxist” and wanted no mention of them on campus.
No Place for Hate and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion programs are valued features of nearly all the top performing high schools in San Diego County and help prepare students to thrive in an increasingly diverse world and workplace.
During much of the time WTPC was waging its culture wars against the school board, Trustee Stacy Keszei was serving her first term on the board. A member of WTPC, Keszei was known for being controversial and combative. There would soon be a school board hearing underway to censure her for violating board policies concerning disclosure of closed session information to her WTPC group.
The Plan to Fire the Superintendent
A June, 2021, email from Keszei, obtained through a Public Records Request to the City of Coronado, reveals that while they were attacking the school board, Keszei, Machin and other WTPC members were also discussing a scheme to fire Superintendent Karl Mueller. It was a secret group that included WTPC’s Executive Director, the mayor’s political campaign manager, and Mayor Bailey himself. The city had this email on file because it apparently went to the mayor’s city email account.
Mayor Bailey, who is a member of We the Parents despite not being a parent, was a strong backer of former Trustee Keszei and now endorses WTPC leader Gerri Machin in her bid to win a seat on the school board.
I reached out to Mayor Bailey and asked if he supported the idea of firing Superintendent Mueller per the discovered email. He declined to respond. As of the publishing of this blog, candidate Machin also has not responded to questions about the email’s proposed plan to get rid of the superintendent.
Keszei Steps Down
On Thursday, October 21, just hours before the scheduled censure vote of Trustee Keszei, CUSD Board President Lee Pontes halted the regularly-scheduled board meeting after Trustee Whitney Antrim alleged threats of violence, harassment and intimidation from members of the public. Trustee Antrim had long been a target of the WTPC members at school board meetings. Keszei would subsequently resign in January, 2022, before finishing her term, thus rendering the censure hearing a moot point.
The Siege of Institutions
But the issue of firing Superintendent Karl Mueller remains of great concern. The website of We the Parents Coronado, who do not represent anything near a majority of parents in the community, links to Manhattan Institute and Heritage Foundation conservative firebrand Christopher Rufo. Rufo is on record as having the ultimate goal defunding of our public school system.
Rufo, created the false issue of Critical Race Theory, which is not taught in public schools, and concocted many of the ongoing culture war claims promoted by WTPC. He has provided marching orders for such groups, a “laying siege” to our institutions, including:
Removing credentialing requirements for K-12 teachers
Fostering so much anger against public schools that it drives a nationwide popular movement to privatize education
Defunding our public schools
As has already happened elsewhere in the country, groups affiliated with Rufo have fired superintendents, banned books, accused teachers of “grooming” students and eliminated programs that don’t align with their views. Many of these schools are now in chaos and disarray, with ongoing political battles traumatizing their communities.
Candidate Machin and Mayor Bailey also have ties to the cult-like San Diego church Awaken and its militant political wing named RMNNT. As reported in past blog posts, Bailey was a speaker at Awaken during his short-lived candidacy for Congress. The mayor also did a candidate training there. Awaken/RMMNT endorsed him when he ran for Coronado Mayor in 2020 and later when he ran for Congress (a race he dropped out of early on after taking hundreds of thousand of dollars in campaign contributions, most of which he kept for a new political action committee).
Bailey also donated $500 from his PAC to an Awaken endorsed candidate running for San Diego Unified School Board.
Awaken and its political ministry, RMNNT, also have endorsed Gerri Machin for the Coronado School Board. After the paramilitary video from the RMNNT was highlighted in my first blog on this topic (available in the resources section the end of this blog post), along with their social media posts condemning public schools, promoting conspiracy theories, supporting election denialism and characterizing gay people as “demons,” Machin stated she requested her name be removed from the RMNNT 2022 Voter Guide… but that was weeks ago and her name is still on the guide, along with the names of the other two school board candidates Mayor Bailey is endorsing in this election.
Machin also has a history of involvement with Awaken Church dating back more than a year. In August, 2021, she spoke at an anti-mask rally at the headquarters of the Coronado Unified School District with two Awaken pastors and Mayor Bailey in attendance.
The Connection is Clear
It’s clear that Mayor Bailey, candidate Machin, We the Parents Coronado, and Awaken/RMNNT are connected at various levels. What they have in mind for our public schools doesn’t appear to be in doubt: Taking them over, imposing their ideologies and radically changing them going forward. They should be candid about their motives and designs. Our community deserves to know where they truly stand.
Superintendent Mueller is a highly respected and accomplished professional who has served as a teacher, administrator, school principal and now superintendent for seven years. His commitment to teachers and the education of Coronado students is exemplary. He deserves better than this. So does Coronado.
The Election
As I have said before, I think the future of our Coronado Public Schools is at stake. If Mayor Bailey’s slate is elected, it’s all but inevitable that there will be chaos at CUSD that will directly impact the quality of education our students currently enjoy.
I support Renee Cavanaugh for the short-term board seat where Machin is her opponent. Cavenaugh is a former teacher, served as chair for the Coronado Schools Foundation, served as a School Board Trustee, and is currently President of the Optimist Club.
For the three full terms, I support Stephanie Anderson, Mal Sandie and Alexia Palacios-Peters. These are mature, reasoned and committed candidates who will serve our community well. We need trustees devoted to lifting our schools up, not tearing them down.
Resources:
The Mayor, Our Schools, and the Radical Right
Voice of San Diego Expose on Awaken Church
Department of Defense Article on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion