Monday March 13, 2023
CANDIDATE PROFILE: Megan Jackson | MEETINGS | PUBLICATION
SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
CANDIDATE PROFILE: MEGAN JACKSON - LIVINGSTON DISTRICT
Election Day: November 7
Perhaps no election will be more-closely watched this November in our area than that for Spotsylvania County School Board. Board meetings last year were defined by chaos. This year, we’ve witnessed a power play to strip parents of a voice in their children’s education and a deliberate sidelining of three of the four school board members. Change is going to come, but what will it look like?
Advocates for liberal democracy hope to see the current majority relegated to the minority and traditional public schools strengthened; the current majority hopes to strengthen their hand and continue to destroy traditional public education in favor of an ideological driven system that silences dissent and de-emphasizes academics for culture-war agendas.
Megan Jackson will be running to unseat current board member Kirk Twigg - or whoever may run in his stead should he be found guilty of a Class 4 Felony.
The Return of Political Pragmatism?
The Livingston District race is already turning ugly. Mimicking the tawdry and childish tactics of Donald Trump, extremists in Spotsylvania have already tagged Megan Jackson with a school-yard label - Marxist Megan.
Spend a few minutes with Jackson, however, and one quickly sees that Megan is no Marxist. Politically, she seems to be like the majority of the American populace - a little right of center on some issues, a little left of center on others.
The three priorities listed on her campaign website are school safety; educator pay, retention, and support; and transparency and communication. Hardly a checklist of grievances aired by Karl Marx in Das Kapital.
She became involved with the first priority five years ago in the wake of the Parkland School shooting. While her concern to elevate safety is one all parents share, her priorities then were not uniformly embraced by progressives.
Jackson, for example, wanted SROs in every building. On the political left, SROs are a contentious issue in some quarters. That should dispel the idea that Jackson is some leftist extremist. If not, then remember that Lisa Phelps, the current board chair, had views on safety that aligned with Jackson’s.
So who is Jackson?
In short, she’s a concerned parent who for five years has been attending school board meetings and board of supervisors’ meetings to advocate for the schools her children attend. Her goal is to return the board to tackling real-world problems with a solution-oriented focus.
“I’m about finding common ground and meeting in the middle,” She told F2S. “Finding solutions means we aren’t always going to be getting our way fully. I want to work together, not argue with people."
Owning It
Critics are sure to jump on that statement and point to a video of Jackson at a school board meeting engaging angerly with conservative parents and dropping a few profane words in the moment.
Video clips, however, offer a limited view of any given situation. It’s important to put them into context.
And the first thing people should know is that Jackson is neither making excuses for her behavior, nor running from that clip.
"It doesn’t highlight my greatest moment, or who I really am,” she says.
This response is neither flippant nor irresponsible. Here’s what the video doesn’t show.
It was taken the night that the school board fired Scott Baker as superintendent. Jackson had a relationship with Baker dating back to her time fighting for improved school security.
When she first expressed her concerns to him, she told F2S, "Dr. Baker had a meeting with me ... [and other] leaders in the community ... and [we] had a really nice discussion .... and [I] was made to feel appreciated."
She worked with him to improve the schools, and school safety. Watching him unceremoniously deposed by four board members who couldn’t even provide a reason for doing so left her - like many that night - on edge.
There was a group of parents behind her were loud that night. Not the only one, but their noise grew increasingly bothersome to her. Eventually, she turned and told them to be quiet.
A "woman grabbed her phone and came over and started taunting me, and I let her have it,” Jackson said.
That wasn’t the only thing she said that night, however.
“After [the camera was turned off], I said if you want to have a conversation sit down and let’s talk. And she did, and we had a nice conversation. We went on to have several other conversations. We’ve worked everything out."
She admits that she can be feisty, but it’s a side that she has well under control.
"I’ve been going to meetings for 5 years,” she says. “You won’t see another one because I’ve never had a moment like that one before."
Let’s Talk
The other issue that animates Jackson is restoring debate and discussion to school board meetings.
Under Phelps, the majority board members have sharply curtailed public comments - including canceling meetings citing “lack of a quorum” when contentious issues are before them - and stifled the ability of board members to carry out debate by limiting their comments to short periods that don’t allow for in-depth analysis of the problems before them.
"We can’t get anywhere if we aren’t willing to listen to board members,” Jackson says. “How can we do work if we can’t communicate with one another? It goes back to putting our egos down."
None of this can happen, however, if there isn’t transparency. And that’s why she wants to once again allow board members to take the time they need to discuss the important issues before them.
It’s More Than Pay
If there’s one thing that most everyone in the county agrees on, it’s that our teachers are not paid competitively. But simply adding pay isn’t going to fix the problems that confront the county.
Talented teachers in Spotsylvania have an abundance of options before them. Stafford County and Prince William County are relatively easy drives and pay significantly better.
Perhaps more important - at least for now - neither county has faced the type of divisiveness and anti-education rhetoric that has been a hallmark of Spotsylvania board meetings.
Jackson intends to work for higher pay. But perhaps more important is her commitment to ensuring that teachers have the support that they need.
"Just knowing the school board has [the teachers'] backs and going to bat for them – that’s what we need to get back to."
Who Is Jackson?
In many ways, Jackson represents a growing body of politicians tired of the types of antics we’ve observed here in Spotsylvania, and across the country. Arguing. Insults. And a quest for power that exists solely to silence opposition.
Instead, she wants to return to debate, to transparency, and to a solutions-based approach to government.
There’s evidence building that her approach will appeal with voters. This approach worked in November 2022 for many congressional candidates. Whether it will work this November remains to be seen.
It will certainly be a race to watch.
MEETINGS
Fredericksburg
City Council Meeting: March 14 at 7:30 pm. View the agenda and Watch live.
Spotsylvania
Board of Supervisors Meeting: March 14 at 4:30. View the agenda and Watch live.
CORRECTION
Sunday’s edition incorrectly identified the flowers in the photo as buttercups. An eagle-eyed reader rightly identified them as daffodils. Doing a bit of research, I’m not alone in confusing them. (To further complicate matters, there are also Jounquils.) Want to know more? Check out this informative site.
PUBLICATION
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