Moms for Liberty Endorses Rob MacCallum and Kevin McDonald for Indian River County School Board.
Chapter membership backs Dr. Jones's challenger and DeSantis appointed incumbent.
On Thursday, the Moms for Liberty - Indian River, FL membership voted overwhelmingly to endorse for school board Rob MacCallum and the DeSantis appointed, Kevin McDonald, for school board. “We are honored as an organization to endorse and support two great candidates in such an important race for the future of our children,” said chairwoman, Jennifer Pippin.
Moms for Liberty reached out to all candidates beginning this campaign season to offer their platform at their meetings to share their vision. David Dyer and Dr. Peggy Jones did not respond to any invitations or fill out the questionnaire required for endorsement. Only Mr. MacCallum and Mr. McDonald recognized the importance of such a significant group of concerned citizens. Moms for Liberty - Indian River, FL represents about 4200 citizens in the county which is a significant voting block. Mrs. Pippin remarked, “We invited all candidates to be heard. Membership voted on who they felt best represented our community.”
Before Mr. MacCallum launched his campaign, he and his wife, Colleen, had been contemplating on how to serve the community. They both own a real estate agency in Vero Beach and have professionally devoted themselves to building a successful team. It was suggested by state senator, Debbie Mayfield, that if he truly wanted to serve, he should look at the school board. Mr. MacCallum began attending school board meetings prior to launching his campaign last November. Reached for comment, he said, “I am honored to receive the Moms for Liberty endorsement. I look forward to working with groups like this one, that are invested in the success of our public education system.”
Mr. MacCallum’s vision includes bringing parents into the conversation on their kids development at school. He also has a strong outlook on discipline, including removing cellphones from classroom instruction time. The DeSantis administration has been studying this issue since the great improvement of students shown in Orange County after the district removed cell phones this last school year. Orange County went farther in banning cellphones for the whole school day, even during free periods. Their policy is more stringent than what DeSantis signed into law the previous session regarding cellphone usage during school hours.
Mr. MacCallum is facing off against Dr. Jones who’s last 3 of 4 major policy proposals she put forth were straight from the Biden White House. During the discussion of Title IX, Dr. Jones detailed her work in Illinois and Florida regarding equality for girls before she decided to throw away her support by siding with the Biden Administration. When the school board passed Title IX, Mr. MacCallum released a statement saying, “I am grateful to the members of the school board that took a stand and voted 4-1 to protect our girls both on the field and in the locker room. The one vote of “nay” was from Doc Peggy Jones the other candidate in my district. I was surprised that she voted against taking the stand because she wanted to be mindful of diversity, equity and inclusion. She has been an advocate for women’s sports for years so why change your views now?”
Dr. Jones has often taken the lead from the Biden Administration on policy positions at the school board. She sought to implement the recommendations of the White House and the National School Board Association (NSBA) to limit citizens from participating in their government at school board meetings. The documented NSBA wrote a letter to the White House comparing parents to “domestic terrorists.”
At the June business meeting, she once again said that parents have a right to remove their students from class when it will teach them that “slaves benefitted from slavery” even though the committee led by 4 African American scholars never said that, nor intended such meaning to be extrapolated from the approved African American History Standards. In July of 2023, after Vice President, Kamala Harris, made the false accusation against the DeSantis Administration, Dr. Jones picked-up the narrative and launched her re-election campaign on her petition to the Florida Department of Education. Dr. Jones wanted the board to stand in opposition to the standards based on a lie, ignoring the actual language in it. Her motion failed, but she continues to carry the water.
Mr. McDonald was appointed by DeSantis on April 2nd to replace Brian Barefoot who resigned from the seat in February. His opponent, David Dyer, who was handpicked by Mr. Barefoot and his manager, Jeffrey Andros, endorsed Dr. Jones and gave her campaign a maximum contribution. Before the announcement of Mr. Dyer’s campaign, his manager, Mr. Andros reached out to Mrs. Pippin about a possible endorsement. Since that February call, Mr. Dyer’s campaign has not formally communicated with Moms for Liberty.
For his part, Mr. McDonald was very honored by the confidence of Governor DeSantis. At the time of his appointment, he said, “I am honored to be selected by our great governor, Ron DeSantis. “I appreciate the support of Governor Ron DeSantis in appointing me to this role. I look forward to working with Dr. Moore and his team to continue the success of this school district.”
With the same humility and decorum that he brings to the deliberations on the school board, he expressed his gratitude in receiving the Moms for Liberty endorsement. He said, “I am humbled and honored that the hardworking champions of parents’ rights and protecting students, Moms for Liberty, have endorsed my campaign and goal of making Indian River Schools #1 in Florida.”
Mr. McDonald has also been a guiding force for the superintendent’s vision of launching a classical school in north county. With over 40 years experience in Fortune 500 companies, and, having served as treasurer and president for 7 years in New York City for the classical institution, The Geneva School, Mr. McDonald is very articulate in expressing insight on the classical school model in the confines of the rules that govern a school board.
He has been a strong opponent against the Title IX changes proposed by the Biden administration being in strong support of protecting girls in Indian River County schools. At the time of that vote, Mr. McDonald remarked, “President Biden has eviscerated women's protections and benefits in Title IX. We are so fortunate for our courageous governor who is standing up against this. Every School Board member, except Peggy Jones, has voted to protect girls and support Florida's stand against allowing boys in girls locker rooms and sports.”
While having a moment of elation that the endorsement process is complete, Mrs. Pippin paused and commented, “We are ready to work hard to get Rob and Kevin elected on August 20th.”
They have my Vote! I encourage everyone to study the issues and choose the best candidates. I have!
Two excellent choices for our School Board... if we turn out and put these two on our School Board we might get three wins! Two on the School Board and a third, Ray McNutty might explode... or at least move to Massachusetts or California where his bizarre columns might have an audience!