VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - – After comments and a video were brought to light of school board chair Jessie Thompson making remarks at a Moms for Liberty summit, the Volusia County school board voted to reconsider her position.
The board voted unanimously Tuesday night to redetermine who will be chair.
Earlier in the week, Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila posted a clip from a Moms for Liberty video and called for Thompson to resign. The mayor, and other school board members, believe in it she is talking poorly about Deltona High School, board member Ruben Colon, and admitted to feeding fake data to the board to get agenda items approved.
Thompson in the nearly hour-long video is speaking at a Moms for Liberty summit in late August.
“We have a tan gentleman who just gets all puffy and filled with pride because he’s supported and it encourages him to do some more crazy nonsense,” she could be heard saying.
Thompson questioned the graduation rates in Volusia County and Florida, alluding to a school other board members believe is Deltona High School.
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“They had a 100% graduation rate last year. One hundred percent. I’ve walked that school multiple times. I’ve met some bright students, and I’ve met some students I wouldn’t trust filling up my tank of gas. I find it really hard to believe that they graduated,” she said.
She then went on to say the requirements for a school receiving an A grade and graduation need to be tougher again.
“They keep moving it up gradually, and I’m thankful for that but the thing is they’ll go ‘oh how are we going to tell parents that the kids don’t graduate?’ I’m sorry, the same way you would tell them they didn’t get a job because they weren’t qualified,” she said.
Colon called Thompson’s comments hurtful.
“Deltona High School has the highest graduation rate of all title one schools in the state of Florida. They worked very hard at focusing on each student and the needs they had to reach that stage and walk across the stage,” he told News 6 on Wednesday.
In the video, Thompson also said she had fed fake data to a “couple people” to get security measures approved by the board before.
“Fun fact, if you really want to mess up someone’s day on a school board and you don’t like them, you can feed them false data, and I guarantee that they are going to Ron Burgundy it and not research it,” Thompson said.
Colon said he made the original recommendation to make Thompson the chair originally and he was also the one to call for the reconsideration Tuesday night at the school board meeting.
“We were all saddened by it and I think that was evident by the vote to reconsider that motion that had previously been made,” he said.
At the board meeting, Thompson gave an apology. She called it a “growing moment” and apologized to her fellow board members.
“I’m sorry for the words that I said because I choose those words poorly ,I do sincerely believe that all of our students deserve the best education,” she said.
The board will bring the motion for the reconsideration and make a decision at its January 14 meeting.
News 6 reached out to the Moms for Liberty chapter of Volusia County and received the following statement from its president Jenifer Kelly:
“Moms for Liberty Volusia is very upset with Jessie’s statements during the M4L national summit last August. I was not aware she would be one of the speakers for the break out session “How to work with your school board”.
After viewing the video last week, I immediately reached out to our national team. They had not seen this session. They would be viewing it. I did send them some of the concerning clips. They are concerned too. They stated they would establish a better vetting system for any future events.
Jessie Thompson has not been involved with our local chapter since we voted to endorse one of her opponents before the primary. That was back in 2021.
I personally was appalled by her comments towards our Hispanic board member, Mr Ruben Colon, her views towards the students of Volusia County and her openly admitting she is a liar.
She told a room full of moms for Liberty members from across the country that they should lie to their school boards and feed them false information. She also said she in fact had done that herself. That is the exact opposite of how to be productive working with your school board.
I agree with Mr Colon that she is not fit to represent them as their Chair of the Volusia county school board.
I’ll go one step further and say she should step down from the board all together.”
The Volusia School district spokesperson Sarah Lux also gave News 6 the following statement:
“Volusia County has incredibly smart, talented students. We’re proud of our students and the teachers who teach them. High graduation rates are proof of the hard work they put in every single day.”