We Cannot Afford Conspiracy Theorists on the Board of Education

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One reason Region 18 has been able to keep the school system functioning so well is that we have traditionally steered clear of nominating partisan ideologues to the Board of Education.  The board has been largely apolitical – comprised mostly of former educators who take time to listen to facts even if the end result doesn’t mesh with their personal world views. 

This year, despite the potential cost to our community, the Old Lyme Republican Town Committee has scrapped that norm.  Whereas the DTC slate includes three educators, including a candidate with a PhD in education, only one of the RTC nominees has any experience in the field.  Indeed, it is hard to divine what criteria the RTC used in selecting its candidates, many of whom hold fringe beliefs that would harm our town. 

Here’s an excerpt quoting from a recent Facebook post by RTC-endorsed candidate Mona Colwell:

Praying today for people around the world to wake up… not a single kid has died during the Planned-demic… not ONE… from SARS-Cov-2 (prove me wrong) yet 5000 people admittedly are v…aaa…xxx injured and dead… We need you in the battle against evil.  BTW – if you’ve already done this to your kid there are therapeutics that can cure them.”  Are we really going to elect someone to our BoE who thinks coronavirus was “Planned” and argues that those who are vaccinated need to be “cured” by “therapeutics”?

Mona’s right about one thing: it’s time to wake up.  The school system is one of Old Lyme’s greatest assets.  Good schools keep property values high and demand constant.  We cannot afford to elect fact-averse conspiracy theorists to the Board of Education, and should think twice about the judgment of local Republican leadership that would knowingly put forth such a nominee.  Our kids deserve better.

Dave Rubino
Old Lyme, CT