She broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6. Now she’s running for school board in Missouri

The last time Kimberly Dragoo of St. Joseph made major headlines was last summer when she and her husband pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the U.S. Capitol as part of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Part of the evidence against her: a photo her husband shot of her stepping through a broken window at the Capitol.

Now, photographed wearing her Donald Trump socks, alongside a note beginning “Okay Patriots,” Dragoo announced on social media that she is running for St. Joseph school board.

“I only decided to run for the school board on the 26th of December,” Dragoo texted to The Star this week. That was the deadline for candidates to file.

“Believe me, it’s not something I wanted or planned on doing. I knew the controversy that would follow, but this election is way too important for the future of our community. It’s bigger than me.

“If I can handle the unbelievable last three years of my life, I can handle anything.”

Originally charged with four misdemeanors as part of the Capitol breach, Dragoo and her husband, Steven, in August each pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail, a $5,000 fine and five years’ probation. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 26 in federal court.

In next April’s election, 10 candidates are vying for three seats on St. Joseph’s seven-member school board. A guilty plea from a misdemeanor does not disqualify anyone from running for school board or holding the office.

“If it was a felony conviction, yes. Misdemeanor, no,” said Susan Goldammer, associate executive director of labor, law and advocacy for the Missouri School Boards’ Association. “For the most part, if a candidate or school board member avoids a felony conviction, they can run. Then it is up to the public to decide if this is someone who we want representing us. It’s going to be a thing in St. Joe, I suspect.”

Social media reaction to Dragoo’s candidacy has been both fiery and divided.

“140 officers were injured, 5 people were killed and 4 officers committed suicide,” wrote one person. “She was part of that mob. I would call that guilty by association.”

“Who cares about trump and the fact that Kimberly Dragoo was arrested for going into the capital during the so called insurrection,” wrote another. “The real problem is the way she … makes fun and just puts anyone down who doesn’t agree with her.”

The word “bully” was used more than once, while her own Facebook page is filled with sentiments of support.

“You are going to do great!” wrote one.

“You have my vote,” wrote a second, followed by another: “YESSSSS!!!!! Team Kim.”

Kenneth Reeder, a lobbyist, Republican and the board’s vice president, said he has been both allies with Dragoo and gotten crosswise with her on certain issues. He was succinct in his assessment:

“I don’t have a problem with her being on the board, although she needs to get elected,” said Reeder, who himself is up for reelection. “But I’ll tell you what: For the next 91 days it’s going to be a s---show here in St. Joseph.”

School board tensions

Though supposedly nonpartisan, the St. Joseph school board, like many, has its liberal and conservative factions.

Two of the more liberal board members, Whitney Lanning and board President LaTonya Williams, do not hide their dislike of Dragoo, having battled her repeatedly over school issues, such as her opposition to a gay pastor being on a school board committee.

Lanning, who previously ran for mayor and is the executive director of a nonprofit aimed at combating poverty, conceded to The Star that, feeling harassed and defamed by Dragoo, she lashed out.

“She sent the board an email saying that she felt I was drunk at a board meeting. I had a Starbucks tea. She took a picture of the tea. All kinds of crazy stuff,” Lanning said. “I told her she belongs in prison.”

Lanning said that Dragoo, in response, submitted a Missouri Sunshine Law request for Lanning’s emails since being elected. She found some in which Lanning apologized for making what one school principal thought were hurtful comments at a convocation.

Soon after, Dragoo in November posted a change.org petition on Facebook “calling for the immediate recall of Whitney Lanning” for her “unprofessional and unsuitable” behavior.

When asked for adjectives to best describe Dragoo, board President Williams, who is also running for reelection, presented three: “hostile, extremely negative and non-productive.”

Williams, who runs the nonprofit Bartlett Center for children, forwarded texts to The Star in which Dragoo suggests that the use of rainbow colored fabric at the center is in keeping with what she claims is the school board president’s LGBTQ “indoctrination.”

“I’ve just noticed that Kim Dragoo doesn’t like anybody unless they agree with her,” Williams said. “And I’ve never agreed with her, or her ways, or her methods about anything. And that makes me, of course, in Kim’s eyes, a bad individual. And if I’m a bad individual, then I must be doing dirty things.”

Dragoo, for her part, claims that Williams purposefully “blackballed” her, preventing her from serving on school committees. She cited lawsuits over previous past debts, calling Williams “a financial disaster” who has “no business voting on millions of dollars.”

She said her opposition to having an openly gay pastor, Brian Kirk of First Christian Church, on a school board committee had nothing to do with his sexual orientation. She was, however, incensed previously by a “Queer Revival” he had promoted at the church geared to “all ages” and inviting attendees to “sing, dance and drink wine.”

Controversy triggered by the event ultimately lost Kirk his position on the city’s public library board.

“All ages welcome?” Dragoo texted to The Star. “NO!!! A sitting library board member is inviting kids to come drink and watch drag? NO!!! I have nothing against drag shows for adult entertainment, but this went too far.”

She called the event “a spit in the face to God & all Christians.”

When Kirk was later approved for a school board committee, the school board then voted at a special meeting to disband all committees. They were later revived, but without Kirk as a member.

Kirk told The Star that any notion that the church was inviting children to drink wine at an event was “ridiculous.”

“Regarding Kim:” Kirk texted to The Star. “Her attitude toward queer folk is akin to her saying, ‘I have no issues with Black people. I just don’t like anything they say or do or who they are as people.’”

Controversy in St. Joseph

Dragoo has her admirers. Kim Miller, seen as one of the board’s more conservative members, is among them.

“I think it takes courage for anyone to submit her name for an elected office and be subjected to intrusive scrutiny by Joe Public,” Miller said. “We are vulnerable to whatever the opposition throws at us, which could include rumors, smear campaigns or inaccurate, unsubstantiated information.

“I laud her courage!”

A perennial issue in St. Joe has been the proposed closing of one of its three high schools because of decreasing enrollment. Dragoo, who wants to keep all three schools open, has nearly 3,000 followers on the Facebook page “We the people 3 schools.” The site is only open to those willing to mark “yes” to the question, “Do you support keeping all 3 high schools open as high schools?”

In announcing her candidacy, Dragoo said saving the high schools was one of her prime reasons for running.

School controversy is hardly new to St. Joseph residents. In 2015, a state audit uncovered up to $40 million in unapproved stipends being secretly paid to administrators dating back 15 years. In 2016, Danny L. Colgan, then 70, was sentenced to a year in prison for a $600,000 pension fraud scheme he perpetrated when he was school superintendent from 1991 to his retirement in 2005.

In March, Superintendent Gabe Edgar, at 49, was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.

David Foster, a school board member stepping down and not seeking reelection this year, opted to take a broad view.

“Every year,” Foster said in a text, “we have a school board election. Every year there are forums held to learn about the candidates. April 2nd the public will decide. …

“That’s democracy. I trust the process!”