Election 2022 Q&A: Collier School Board candidates talk CRT, parents rights law and more
Election Day is nearly upon us, and three Collier County School Board seats remain contested.
In District 1, Jerry Rutherford is running against incumbent Jory Westberry for her seat on the board. District 3 is a showdown between former school board member Kelly Lichter and incumbent Jen Mitchell, while District 5 is up for grabs with incumbent Roy Terry vying for his seat against challenger Tim Moshier.
In Collier, while school board members are elected countywide, they must live within the boundaries of their district. There are a total of five districts.
School board members serve staggered four-year terms, overseeing about 48,000 students in 63 schools across the district, including two technical colleges, one K-12 school an alternative center and a virtual school.
While school board contests are non-partisan, meaning candidates do not run with a political party, in recent months, politics has played a significant role in historically non-partisan elections, echoing a nationwide trend. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has endorsed Republican candidates for school board in various districts across the state; he has not endorsed any in Collier County.
However, the Republican Executive Committee of Collier County has backed some Republican candidates over others; all candidates running for election or reelection on the school board are registered Republicans.
Candidates were asked to respond to the following questions:
What was the driving force behind you deciding to run for a seat on the school board in this election?
Are you at all concerned about the polemic, partisan nature of the school board races this year, which have previously been nonpartisan? What is lost or gained when politics impacts school board elections?
Do you support the teaching of how race has impacted the power structure throughout history? What about critical race theory? Are you satisfied with the current curriculum in Collier County Schools? If not, what do you think needs to change?
Collier has taken three books off its school library shelves and left the jackets so interested students can still check them out but need parental permission first. Are you in favor of banning or tracking certain books from schools or putting warning labels on them? If so, which books concern you and why do you think banning or tracking them is the solution?
What do you think of the Parental Rights in Education bill that critics have called “Don’t Say Gay” bill? Does it go far enough, or does it go too far?
What do you think needs to change about the Collier County school board? Where has it fallen short? Where has it succeeded in recent years?
Collier County Schools saw incidents of children bringing weapons to school increase 120% between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, according to data provided by the Florida Department of Education. What should the district do to reduce the number of children bringing weapons to school?
As far as we are aware, the district still has not completed a federally required Title IX report in response to the student sex abuse scandal involving former teacher Hector Manley. What would your position be on this, if you were elected or reelected to school board office?
As Collier is looking for a new superintendent, given that Kamela Patton is retiring at the end of this school year, what qualities would you prioritize in your next superintendent?
Their answers have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
District 1
Jerry Rutherford
School board: Collier County School Board District 1: Three candidates vying for seat
Book restrictions: 3 books in Collier Schools now need parental permission for check-out
Rutherford has been a Naples resident since 1982. He is a devout Christian and has fought to distribute Bibles in schools as well as institute prayer at school board meetings. He also served as a substitute teacher in the district for three years.
A veteran of the Air Force, Rutherford has worked in sales and construction. He's a successful entrepreneur, having owned a painting business in the Naples area for more than 20 years.
Why is he running?
I am running for School Board because I have experienced firsthand, over 35 years, the lack of response to those who have brought concerns to the School Board and Superintendent.
Politics in school board races
In my experience, previous School Board races have not been entirely non-partisan, in that politics did become an issue. When a race devolves from an honest debate of the issues, and becomes personal, the opportunity to educate voters is damaged.
Race, power structures and critical race theory
There is only one race, the human race, and we all bleed red. I am for unifying, not dividing.
Tracking or banning books
In the 1940s and '50s when I was in school, there was no need to ban books, because they were not saturated with sex and perversion. I would rather see a standard by which books are added to the library than needing to weed out unsatisfactory books later. Parents, educators, and community members should be consulted in setting the standards.
Parental rights
In my opinion, the “Parental Rights in Education” law is appropriate, as it seeks to protect young children from adult topics.
Changes to school board
Although Collier schools have had some successes, there appear to be too many programs. I spoke to some teachers that said that too many programs kept them from doing the job that they were paid for: teaching basic education.
Keeping weapons out of schools
Metal detectors could be installed to stop the weapons from entering the schools. The best way, is to teach morals and ethics, rewards and punishments.
Lack of Hector Manley Title IX report
In my opinion, it would have been appropriate to begin a Title IX investigation immediately in the Manley case.
Superintendent search
The next successful candidate would have the following qualities: Good moral character, an understanding of our founding documents and history, a heart for basic student education, the desire to listen to the general public, and a successful record administering a large school district with a varied ethnic makeup.
Jory Westberry
Schools Q&A: Back to school: Q&A with Collier County School District Superintendent Kamela Patton
By the way: Back to School 2022-23: 12 schools have new principals in Collier County School District
Westberry is a former teacher, assistant principal and principal. She was a Golden Apple teacher at Oakridge Middle School, Assistant Principal of the Year at Golden Gate Elementary and principal at A-rated Tommie Barfield Elementary.
Why is she running?
I’ve been a teacher, forever it seems, teaching my younger siblings around the kitchen table, then helping fellow students throughout K-12. I am now devoting myself to serving the students, families and teachers in Collier County as vice chair of the Collier School Board.
Politics in school board races
I think that people are using lies to try to manipulate elections. And although that's probably been done in the past, it's taken great strides in a negative direction now, including passing such redundant laws as ones that say you can't teach critical race theory in public schools. Well, we never were.
Race, power structures and critical race theory
(Teaching how race and power have interacted is) part of what critical race theory is all about. And from what I understand, it's been making people feel bad.
To look at the past, and some of our decisions in this country, if they have any empathy at all, they have to feel something about it. So it's not an intentional make-you-feel-bad. It's the nature of human beings, I think.
(When asked directly if she supported the teaching of critical race theory, Westberry said she did not.)
Tracking or banning books
I might add that those same books (we removed from high school library shelves) are in the public libraries. There have been a lot of books that have been banned over the years, including the Harry Potter series, which, as a former teacher, I can tell you that that series encouraged so many children to read and develop their reading skills. And there's a lot of other books (that have also been banned). But (by requiring parental permission to check out certain books) I think we've found a balance. In my experience, the more books you ban, the more kids try to find them and read them.
In reading those books, the three that we've made decisions about, I felt that some of the parts of the book made me a little uncomfortable. But I would not want to deny a person from reading a particular book if they wanted to.
Parental rights law
In my opinion, it goes too far. We are not teaching gender identity in grades K through three. That's absurd. And so it's another law that's been put into place where it wasn't happening in the first place.
Changes to school board
I think we've succeeded in opening up communication, improving services to students and increasing career opportunities for students. We have close to 30 different careers that students can start in high school and be certified and have a position in that career when they leave high school.
I am very concerned about what the teachers are feeling right now. I think that we can do a much better job retaining and recruiting teachers and making sure that we are sensitive to their pressures and sensitive to the things that are going on in their lives (such as trying to bring student scores back up after the decline during COVID).
Keeping weapons out of schools
I think that we're doing some proactive things, such as (student program) The Leader in Me, which is in all the elementary schools. It teaches students how to be leaders, communication skills, and goal-setting. Because of that, I'm seeing a huge difference in elementary schools.
I believe in making sure kids are receiving the counseling that they need. We need to be more communicative and supportive of our students and set the standards of safety.
Lack of Hector Manley Title IX report
I think Title IX is important. And I certainly reject any person or persons who take advantage of our children.
Superintendent search
I'm looking for experience in K-12 education in a larger district such as Collier, preferably in Florida; advanced degrees; communication skills; accessibility; focus on student success and staff satisfaction; and someone who demonstrates competence, empathy and patience with all stakeholders.
District 3
Kelly Lichter
School board election: Collier School Board District 3 features incumbent, former member and a newcomer
Exclusive: They thought their children would be safe. A teacher's sex abuse went unreported for years.
Read more: Data: Hector Manley's survivor count is Florida's second-highest in recent history
Follow the timeline: A timeline of Hector Manley's sex crimes against Parkside Elementary students in Florida
After Hector Manley: Here's the federal policy that could help keep Florida schoolchildren safe
Lichter served on the Collier County School Board from 2014 to 2018. She declined to run again in 2018, after she fought against what she calls a power grab by Collier Superintendent Kamela Patton that the other school board members allowed.
“I speak the truth so they marginalized me,” she said,
Lichter is a founding board president of the public charter school, Mason Classical Academy, in 2014.
Hillsdale College in Michigan, which provided guidance to Mason academy, severed ties to the charter school in 2019 after a probe by the school board’s general counsel Jon Fishbane alleged financial mismanagement and Sunshine Law violations at Mason academy. The report recommended Lichter and others at Mason resign.
Lichter said the Fishbane investigation aimed to force new leadership at Mason and that he never interviewed her during his year-long investigation.
Mason hired its own attorney to conduct an investigation; according to Lichter, that report exonerated Mason. The district disagreed with her characterization of the report.
After Mason's own report was published, Mason and the district went to mediation and agreed to corrective action.
Hillsdale sued Lichter in 2020 for hostile interference with the college’s business relationships with other charter schools, according to a lawsuit filed in November 2020.
Lichter is also a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a former Mason board member, Matthew Mathias, alleging slander and libel, according to the complaint in October 2021 that is pending.
And in August 2022, Lichter and another Mason board member filed a lawsuit against 11 separate parties, including former Collier County School Board Member Erika Donalds, wife of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, accusing them of "abuse of power" and working to control the school.
Lichter canceled her Q&A interview with The News-Press / Naples Daily News and did not respond to emails, texts, or phone calls by deadline.
In July, she told The News-Press / The Daily News her top three issues in this race are academic achievement, the district’s “obscenely bloated” budget, and addressing political agendas by the current leadership.
Too much of taxpayers’ dollars are being wasted, Lichter said, and academic achievement is too low, she said.
Jen Mitchell
Mitchell has been on the board since 2018. A Realtor, she has sent four children through Collier's public school system. In 2011 she served on the Superintendent's District Advisory Council, and in 2014 joined the Champions For Learning Connect Now Project, helping to craft what became the district's strategic plan.
Why is she running?
I ran to maintain the focus of the district on increasing student achievement, specifically in the areas of math and reading proficiency, ensure we are running as efficiently as possible, and using your tax dollars wisely.
Politics in school board races
I was very disappointed that our local Republican Executive Committee chose to endorse in the school board race when all candidates share the same party affiliation.
Race, power structures and critical race theory
CRT is a graduate level framework that is not nor has it ever been taught in Collier schools. We teach history as outlined in the state standards; this includes slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws, the Holocaust and other dark times in both American and world history. In order to appreciate how far we have come as a nation and to be able to build upon our successes, we must also be able to learn from our shortcomings. I believe that we can do both while also instilling a sense of pride in our American exceptionalism.
Tracking or banning books
As outlined in state statute, we have assembled review committees made up of community members, parents, and district staff to review books and for those that have literary value but may contain explicit content. We have determined that those books should require parent permission. This is in keeping with the Parents’ Bill of Rights, but let me be clear, pornographic books have no place in our schools.
Parental rights law
The Parents’ Bill of Rights simply says that there should be no classroom instruction around gender identity and sexual orientation in grades K-3. In my opinion, it should have extended beyond third grade. (I believe) it is not the role of the school to wade into these very highly charged social issues that have the potential to conflict with the values a parent wants to instill in their children.
Election 2022: Write-in loophole sparks Collier voter disenfranchisement debate after candidate withdraws
Changes to school board
I believe this board has worked well together to keep the focus on the students and not get bogged down in personal agendas and in-fighting as was the case with previous boards. We followed the governor’s timeline with a return to in-person learning as well as going mask optional, and we got great results. We outperformed the state in all 21 tested areas for the past two years and maintained our A-rating. We are on track to be debt free by 2026, we are paying cash for the new high school to save taxpayers $41 million in interest payments, and we have lowered millage rates every year.
I would love to see us improve math and reading proficiency, because until 100% of students are on grade level, we have work to do.
Keeping weapons out of schools
Thankfully we have a great partnership with our sheriff’s department so when a threat involving a weapon is made CCSO immediately goes to the home to investigate and the student is not allowed back to school until the investigation is complete. The youth relations deputies at each school are an integral part of keeping our students safe.
Lack of Hector Manley Title IX report
The Hector Manley case came to light just months after I joined the board and we cooperated fully with the CCSO investigation, which included the district taking a step back while witnesses were interviewed so as not to impede the process. Immediately following the criminal proceedings, two lawsuits were filed which further prevented us from investigating Title IX issues, so as not to interfere with discovery, depositions, and other communications from the various witnesses in both lawsuits. When we are able, it will be important to assess what could or should have been done differently.
Superintendent search
The next superintendent should be someone with a vision to improve reading and math proficiency as well as have a plan to execute that vision. They should be an instructional leader with a proven record of success in this area. I also believe it will be important they have strong fiscal management skills and a firm grasp of needs versus wants. Lastly, the superintendent will need to inspire and empower staff to innovate and problem-solve and build a positive district culture from the top down.
District 5
Tim Moshier
In August 2022, a Naples Daily News story uncovered that a campaign volunteer who described herself as Moshier's campaign manager on LinkedIn also described herself as an antisemite and had been posting her opinions on social media for years.
In a video uploaded to multiple accounts across multiple social media apps, Naples resident Katie Paige Richards danced to music while text over the video read, “j€w$ remixing the past where they're not using p0rn0gr@phÿ as mind control.”
The caption for the video on TikTok said, “ur not fooling me.”
TikTok video: Watch what campaign volunteer for school board candidate Tim Moshier shared
The video promoted the false theory that Jews are trying to control the West by using porn to render white Christian men impotent or desexualize them. John Earnest, who was sentenced to life in prison for the deadly 2019 synagogue shooting in California, referenced this conspiracy in his manifesto as well.
Although initially Moshier told a Naples Daily News reporter he did not see a problem with Richards' video and did not want to comment further or disavow antisemitism, he walked back his stance the following day.
"I disavow the anti-Semitic references in those posts in the strongest terms," Moshier wrote, saying that he had been unaware of the posts when he was first asked about them. Moshier said he asked Richards to vacate her post as a volunteer, and said she had never been his campaign manager or a campaign employee.
Richards has since deleted her LinkedIn page as well as the TikTok account on which she posted the antisemitic video.
Although Moshier initially agreed to respond to election questions by The News-Press / Naples Daily News, he did not respond to subsequent emails, calls, or text messages by deadline.
In July, he told The News-Press / Naples Daily News that his top issues are teacher pay, low reading and math scores, and school safety.
Teachers in Collier earn an average of $54,000 per year, and that’s 15% less than the national average, he said. The current board has declined to address it, he said.
“Every time you go to the school board meeting, they do not seem to have the money,” Moshier said. “There’s no explanation why they aren’t paying (teachers) more.”
He said he believes the district needs more teachers and fewer administrative employees; the district has 3,100 teachers yet more than 4,000 non-teaching or administrative employees, he said.
Furthermore, he said Collier teachers are teaching to tests, citing low reading and math scores but a graduation rate of 92%.
Roy Terry
School board primary: Collier County School Board District 5: Crowded race could mean no decision in primary
Other reporting: Who won the Collier County School Board races? No one yet
Terry has worked in Collier County's public school system since 1978 as a teacher, an administrator, coach and school board member.
He coached football, baseball and basketball at Naples High, then became an assistant principal at East Naples Middle School.
He followed that with a stint as the ed center coordinator, then became an assistant principal at Lely High, until he became the principal a few years later.
He became the inaugural principal at Palmetto Ridge High School in 2003, where he worked until 2009.
Terry was appointed to school board in 2010 by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican at the time, and has served on the board ever since.
Why is he running?
In the last 10 years, we've improved so much, I just wanted to make sure with the new superintendent (search) that I had a hand in continuing the forward progress that we've been making the last 10 years. And that's probably the driving force behind me wanting to run again.
Politics in school board races
I think we're getting to the point where it's a political rally, rather than actually getting into the depth or discussion about the issue.
For example, here in Collier County the Republican Executive Committee has actually endorsed three candidates, and all the candidates running right now are in the same party.
I think now what they've done is they've turned it into a political rally rather than an honest selection of school board members.
Race, power structures and critical race theory
I'm against teaching critical race theory in our schools. I think that's a college course, and that's where it probably should remain.
I think the current curriculum meets the needs of our students and prepares them well for moving on and in the world and being accessible to people outside to discuss different topics about race. I believe that we should teach history. And that history should be taught no matter whether it's good or bad, that it needs to be taught to our students, so they have a grasp and so that they don't end up repeating history.
We don't ignore the Holocaust, because it was a bad part of history. We teach that this was not the right thing to have happened in our world. And that students should have all the information and they should be able to decipher it and determine their own path.
Tracking or banning books
Presently, we have three books that we've placed in that (parental permission) category, and we're not taking them out of the library or making them inaccessible. We are requiring parent permission. And I'm also for making sure that books are age appropriate to the level either elementary or middle school or high school for the students that we have in our schools.
I believe that the parents should have some say as to whether their children read those books or don't read those books.
Parental rights law
We don't teach any of that (gender identity) in our schools, other than when we get to high school, where we have a health class that has five or six lessons of sexual education. I'm not against the restriction in first through third grade. My only concern with it is that we're restricting teachers to the point where they're going to be afraid to (speak freely) while teaching their classes, and that bothers me a little bit.
I think teachers are put on the defensive in terms of what they're saying and what they're doing in classrooms. And I certainly don't say that they shouldn't be able to say anything at all that they want to say, but I'm afraid that we're putting handcuffs on teachers, they're afraid to say any word (that might get them in trouble).
Changes to school board
The school board has done a tremendous job over the last 10 years. Bringing us from number 33 in the state up to number five, improving our graduation rate from 72% to 92%. And that's also including a migrant student graduation rate, bringing it from somewhere around 46% up to 90%.
We've got to select the new superintendent. That's gonna be a big job over the next year. And we want to make sure that we have somebody that will continue to bring us forward rather than throwing us into disarray and disagreement.
Keeping weapons out of schools
I think we need to just make a campaign and make it known that it's very, very important that students and parents communicate with the schools, school administration and teachers. That's the only way that we can stop this.
I know some students are hesitant to tell on somebody else, but the fact of the matter is there's been a number of shootings around the United States. Fortunately, we have not had any here at this time. I think the biggest thing is to make sure that if you see something, you need to tell somebody about it, rather than just setting it aside.
Lack of Hector Manley Title IX report
I cannot comment on that since it's an ongoing situation.
Superintendent search
I'm looking for somebody who has at least had assistant or deputy superintendent experience in a relatively large district, is well respected by others in their district. I'd like to see a superintendent who is involved with their community; we don't do this job by ourselves in Collier County. And I'm looking for somebody who's a hard worker. A superintendent job requires a lot of time and a lot of effort.
Kate Cimini is an investigative journalist covering Florida. Share your story at (239) 207-9369 or email kcimini@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Collier County School Board candidates talk CRT, parents rights law
