Embattled Volusia County School Board member Jessie Thompson said Wednesday she will not resign from the board after a vow by the local Moms for Liberty chair to seek her removal by other means.
Thompson suggested in a text message to The News-Journal that there are others in her corner.
“Her call for my resignation has been overshadowed by an outpouring of support from people both in Volusia and the state of Florida,” Thompson said. “There is still work to be done, and I’ve promised teachers, parents and students that I will stay and continue to work to make VCS a beacon of education.”
Moms for Liberty – the political organization that has made waves with its calls for some books and content referencing LGBTQ rights, race and sexual orientation to be removed from schools in the name of parental rights – held a summit last August in Washington, at which Thompson was invited to lead a breakout session. In her session, available on YouTube, Thompson made a number of comments that have sparked outrage.
Thompson questioned Deltona High School’s 100% graduation rate and said some of the students she’d met weren’t capable of pumping gas. She called board member Ruben Colón, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, a “tan gentleman,” and she spoke of feeding board members false data in order to convince them to vote with her.
Jessie Thompson
Thompson, who was elected the new board chair in November, apologized at the first meeting she led in December, at which other board members called for another reorganization meeting, signaling they intended to remove her as chair. Thompson resigned as chair on Jan. 2, but remained a board member.
On Tuesday, the School Board voted to return Jamie Haynes to the chair post she’d held in 2023 and 2024. Later in the day, at a regular board meeting, public comments were allowed.
Jenifer Kelly, chair of the Volusia County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said she hadn’t been able to attend the Moms for Liberty summit in Washington, but followed up by watching breakout sessions online.
Jenifer Kelly, Volusia County chapter chair for Moms for Liberty, calls for School Board member Jessie Thompson to resign during a meeting Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in DeLand. Thompson, who has apologized for comments made at an August Moms for Liberty summit, stepped down from her role as board chair, but is vowing to remain in office.
“A few months later, Moms for Liberty posted all the breakout sessions to their website for those of us who could not attend to view,” Kelly said. “When I got to the session where Ms. Thompson participated, let me just say I was completely astonished and mortified.
“I was shocked to hear her call her colleagues names, put students down, even going as far to say they were not intelligent and she would not trust some of them to pump her gas. And most shocking to me was the admitted lying.
“She lied to all of you because you are all too lazy to read contracts,” Kelly told the board. “She fed you all false information because she didn’t like you and wanted to get under your skin in an attempt to make magical changes for safety and security with the contract with the sheriff’s department. Did we ever find out what that lie was?”
Kelly then called for Thompson to quit or face removal.
“If you choose not to do the right thing for the students in Volusia County and step down, there are other ways to have your removed. One, by the governor. Two, by recall.”
The criteria for either method of removal include malfeasance and misfeasance, which Kelly said “definitely” apply to Thompson.
“I request you to step down tonight. If not, I will start the other two processes first thing tomorrow,” Kelly said.
It’s unlikely DeSantis would remove a board member he had previously endorsed, and even though school board positions are considered non-partisan, Thompson is a Republican. And recall efforts in Florida are rarely successful, although the Mexico Beach mayor was successfully removed from office last year in Bay County.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia Moms for Liberty chair vows to remove School Board member