Pledge 'came out of nowhere': Odd start to Shasta schools superintendent candidate forum

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story stated that an American flag was not present in the room in which audience members stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance during the forum. On Saturday morning, the Record Searchlight contacted the public library. Noah Starr, a library associate and volunteer trainer, confirmed that a flag is in storage and was placed out during the forums.

Candidate Bryan Caples took over a League of Women Voters forum Tuesday, insisting that he be allowed to stand and then leading confused audience members in the Pledge of Allegiance as the moderator appealed to him to respect the event's ground rules.

Incumbent Judy Flores, whom Caples is challenging for Shasta County superintendent of schools, initially stood to pledge but returned to her seat as the moderator attempted to regain control of the room. Soon after the event, a TikTok video of the forum began circulating along with the claim that Flores would not stand for the pledge.

“Mr. Caples might go down in my history as one of my more difficult people,” said Susan Wilson, who moderated the candidate panel at Redding Library. “I felt unprepared.”

The 90-minute forum began like any other. An estimated 120 people turned out for the evening event. Both candidates agreed to the rules and made no requests for changes to the program, Wilson said.

They were to begin by delivering a three-minute introduction on their background, concerns and their reasons for running. Later they would be asked questions submitted in writing to the moderator from the audience. The moderator would ask the candidates the questions, and they would need to keep their answers within a designated timeframe.

What happened at the candidate forum?

Flores went first. While seated, she spoke of her ideas for the job and passed the microphone to Caples. He took the microphone and stood up from the table, ignoring Wilson's requests to take a seat.

Wilson explained the forum was being filmed and his head would be out of the shot. In a video of the event, the camera operator is also heard attempting to persuade Caples to sit.

"I'm going to go ahead and stand, thanks for your advice though," Caples responds, then turns to the audience and asks them to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance with him.

A recording shared on Facebook shows Flores stood with her hand over her heart and her back to Caples. That's when Wilson asked everyone in the room to sit back down.

"Really, please, folks, would you all sit down?" Wilson said.

Most, including Flores, complied with the request.

Wilson continued, "We do not, we do not do the Pledge of Allegiance" before her voice got drowned out by Caples and a handful of people who remained standing to recite the pledge.

Had Caples said he would like to say the pledge, that could have been incorporated, Wilson said on Thursday as she reflected on what had happened at the start of the event.

Read more: How this foster mom used horses to help her children work through their trauma

No one in the audience knew what to do, Wilson said. She felt unprepared to handle the disruption, she said.

“It is not distressing to say the Pledge of Allegiance, but people were distressed because it came out of nowhere. I don’t know why he couldn’t have said something ahead of time,” she said.

'We could have avoided all of that'

"Flores was (seemingly) distressed because she didn’t know what to do. She’s a patriotic woman. She loves her country," Wilson said.

"Had he discussed it with me ahead of time we could have avoided all of that. We pride ourselves for having a procedure that has worked all over the country and in national elections. We pride ourselves in doing things by the book," she said.

Following the forum, a video clip with a TikTok logo started circulating on social media titled "Judy Flores refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance," with an endorsement of Caples.

Reached on Friday, Flores said she was aware of the post. She also addressed the break from protocol and said it was “just confusing that someone would use their opening statement time for the pledge when there were three areas they were supposed to be addressing.”

Caples did not immediately respond to phone calls and a text message from the Record Searchlight.

The League of Women Voters, locally and nationally, is among the oldest and best-known sponsors of political forums and debates. The organization has cultivated a reputation for impartiality and candidate forums tend to be staid, policy-driven affairs.

Caples, who has worked in education around California, has been campaigning against previous requirements of masks in schools and other state mandates during the pandemic.

A Record Searchlight report in March found in at least three cases, Caples has abruptly left or been let go as a superintendent. He left at least two North State school districts after conflicts with officials. One official at a district where he worked said she has no confidence that he would create a healthy work or learning environment.

More: Superintendent candidate Caples' choppy career marked by outbursts, conflict, absences

Wilson, who's been moderating candidate forums in Shasta County for 25 years, thought about how she could have brought order to Tuesday's meeting. After the forum ended, she said she called leadership at the League of Women Voters of California looking for guidance. The person who spoke to her said the organization had not heard of anything similar happening at other forums in the state.

On Wednesday, Wilson moderated another panel between County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen and her opponent, Bob Holsinger. Before it began, Wilson asked the guests if they had anything planned for the forum.

“I’m going to say the Pledge of Allegiance,” Holsinger told her.

So Wilson incorporated it into the forum, she said.

Record Searchlight reporter Mike Chapman contributed to this report.

Nada Atieh is a Report For America corps member and education reporter focusing on childhood trauma and the achievement gap for the Redding Record Searchlight. Follow her on Twitter at @nadatieh_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today! And if you are able, please consider a tax-deductible gift toward her work.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Caples breaks with Shasta schools superintendent candidate forum rules