After video surfaced of Volusia County School Board Chair Jessie Thompson making derogatory remarks about board members and students and admitting to feeding false data to fellow board members, the board Tuesday night unanimously decided to reconsider who will serve as chair.
It was Thompson’s first meeting in her new role.
Members agreed at Tuesday night’s meeting to move agenda item 3.01, Election of Chair to the Volusia County School Board, from the Nov. 19 annual organization session to the next meeting’s agenda — Jan. 14 — for discussion.
The move comes after Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila Jr. Monday issued a public call on Facebook to remove Thompson from her new role after she made disparaging remarks about students and other board members at the Moms for Liberty 2024 Joyful Warriors Summit in August.
Watch Jessie Thompson speak at the Moms for Liberty summit
Thompson led a breakout session at the summit titled, “How to Work With Your School Board,” on behalf of the Florida Conservative Coalition of School Board Members, a group she heads based out of her home. In the video, she implied Deltona High School students didn’t actually graduate, but received “participation trophies” and said she wouldn’t trust some of them to fill her gas tank. She also referred to a board member as a “tan man,” which Avila has stated is Ruben Colón.
“What I’d like to see get done is for the other board members to remove her as chair, which they can do, and I believe that’s what needs to happen,” Avila told The News-Journal. “She shouldn’t be the chair of the school board if she is going to misrepresent kids.”
Volusia School Board confronts Jessie Thompson
Colón was the first board member to address what he defined as an “elephant in the room” at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“Those words were very hurtful. Not because of me. We’re big people, we can handle it. We’re politicians. People say whatever they want to say. We get used to that,” he said. “But when it, when it affects our kids — when comments are made to disparage our children — that crosses over into a different world.”
While Colón made the motion to name Thompson chair Nov. 19, he also made the motion Tuesday to reconsider that decision.
“I made the motion (to elect Thompson) very proudly. Very proudly. And I think for the sake of our students, for the sake of our district, for the sake of our stability, for the sake even of yourself, Miss Thompson, … We need to reconsider who is going to be the face of this board, and I don’t think any of us — there’s none of us here — that were not affected by those words, and I appreciate your acknowledgement.”
Colón said electing the board chair is a “privilege” and that the selected individual represents all board members.
“That person speaks for all of us,” he said. “That person doesn’t have any more power than any one of us. Our votes all count as one. We come here with five different walks of life. We come here with five different perspectives.”
Jessie Thompson speaks at a Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce forum for Volusia County School Board candidates on Wednesday, June 22, 2022.
Community members speak out against Thompson
Dana McCool, a former Deltona City Commissioner and a self-proclaimed “forever community servant,” spoke to the board at its Tuesday meeting, noting that she was “appalled” by Thompson’s criticism of students and board members.
“You’re not professionally fit to represent these beautiful, hard-working souls,” McCool said. “I’m also incensed that you would refer to one of the hardest working board members here as a ‘tan man.’ This man has been in our schools with his sleeves rolled up, tirelessly working for our kids since well before you became a political novelty.”
McCool suggested that Thompson visit every school in Deltona and apologize for her words. She urged the board to remove Thompson as chair and censure her for her actions.
Former board member Anita Burnette also weighed in.
“I am more upset that this is what someone might think or see that this is how Volusia County Schools are run,” she said in a text message about Thompson’s session. “This message doesn’t represent all of the hard work and dedication for our students (sic) education, or support our mission. Major distractions like this take away from our focus on our mission, that of focusing on our students (sic) education and needs.”
Deltona Mayor Avila: Thompson shouldn’t be representing us
“The kids in Deltona High School, they worked their tails off, and not only them, but so did the teachers. So did staff. So did the parents, to make it an A-rated school,” Avila started. “For her to come in and belittle that and make it seem like we’re handing out participation trophies, she doesn’t even represent our district, so for her to use one of my schools specifically, … it was out of bad taste, and she shouldn’t be representing us in any capacity.”
Avila told The News-Journal he wasn’t surprised to hear these statements coming from Thompson, but he didn’t expect her to single out a specific school.
“You’re (Thompson) very fast at wanting to take a selfie at their graduation, and you’re very quick about the photo ops when it came time to hand out these quote, unquote, what she called, ‘participation trophies,’ and now you’re going to sit there and trash that,” Avila said about Thompson. “No, it’s unacceptable.”
Jessie Thompson becomes the new school board chair for Volusia County Schools, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.
Thompson apologizes at Volusia County School Board meeting
When Colón asked Thompson for her thoughts on the comments she made at the Moms for Liberty summit, Thompson apologized for her words, specifically referencing the remarks she made about students.
“I chose those words poorly,” she said. “I do sincerely believe that all of our students deserve the best education, every single one. And so I am looking forward to working with our superintendent because I know she, as well, believes that our students are made for greatness, and they can absolutely get there.”
She also said she’d like to visit each school.
“I do love what Dana McCool said, and that was to go to all the different schools, and I really do plan to do that,” Thompson said as part of her apology following McCool’s public comment.
Thompson also apologized for speaking poorly about other board members and her relationships with them.
“I am sorry to the board that I sit with that my words caused you sadness and anger,” she said. “This was a growing moment for me, and I know we’ve all gone through that. … It’s going to take time, but moving forward, I think that we will be a stronger, better board, and I will always be focused on putting our students first and making sure that they get the best possible education because they really are the reason that I’m here.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Jessie Thompson could lose title as Volusia School Board chair