The Sunshine Journal Endorses Rob MacCallum and Kevin McDonald for School Board
A common sense understanding of government is required for school board representatives. Mr. MacCallum and Mr. McDonald have shown they understand the mission.
Editors Note: This article originally went out August 8, 2024.
Endorsements by media publications are almost meaningless. Why? Well, it is up to voters to stay informed and carry the responsibility of good government. The editor of the Sunshine Journal comes from a Christian perspective on government. Biblically, Christians are instructed to pray for the leaders that God puts in place. In America, leadership ultimately resides in “We, the People” after we recognize that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights.
What makes an endorsement worthwhile? Information and perspective that moves a citizen toward selecting good representatives. The campaign season is about a debate of ideas between candidates. Allegedly, incumbents have the benefit of experience at the position. But, what have citizens experienced from the decisions of incumbents? Did they favor liberty and the mission of “We, the People,” or, did they appeal to a vocal minority of special interests not concerned for the people’s will?
The IRC school board races have clearly shown which candidates are for the people and which candidates are for special interests.
District 3 - challenger, Rob MacCallum vs. incumbent, Dr. Peggy Jones.
Dr. Jones is the most celebrated educational figure in Indian River County. Two other media outlets say “she should be on the Mt. Rushmore of Indian River school board members.”
Next to whom?
Dr. Peggy Jones has over 40 years of teaching, being a principal, administrating scholastic athletic associations and other duties in education. She is an all-world professional educator with school spirit to match. However, her last four years on the school board prove she doesn’t know much about governing. Problems in school systems across the country are directly related to career educators getting on school boards to implement ideas they had as a principal rather than doing the hard work of governing. The latest failing of Dr. Jones, the school board member, was her vote on the Title IX resolution. If the potential of a hypothetical chance at some governmental ‘OCR investigation’ was her reason for voting “NO,” then why did she vote “YES” on illegal mask mandates with the real stated possibility of losing $1.2 million in district funding?
Yet, it is not the inconsistent reasoning alone. It’s her lack of understanding regarding the basic principles of American civics. She could not anticipate that the state of Florida would challenge the Biden Administration rule changes to Title IX. She could not anticipate that parent groups representing thousands of students across the USA would possibly win an injunction to stop the rule changes. Title IX has over 5 decades of subsequent precedent that has caused equal opportunity for girls and women to flourish since 1972. Her colleague, Teri Barenborg, is a living testimony of Title IX.
Dr. Jones could not see these governmental achievements of a more perfect union because she doesn’t get it.
She did the same thing in September 2021 when she attempted to limit speech of citizens by reducing public comment to only 30 minutes. She ignored the basic right of a citizen to properly petition their local school board. A formal petition known as public comment is board business. It was her reaction to a political ploy by the White House and the National School Board Association who referred to parents as “domestic terrorists.”
In essence, her proposal demonstrated she speculated some local parents might be domestic terrorists. Speaking of White House lies, she still believes that Florida's African American History standards say, “slaves benefitted from slavery” even though four African American scholars with others, vetted and wrote them.
As an educator, you are a mentor to kids working side by side with their parents. Dr. Jones has always been dedicated in that part of her career. She would be a great community ambassador.
Yet, as a governing representative, you are seated to protect the freedom, liberty and equality of those students, educators and parents so those relationships can flourish. It is failure to vote for ways to intervene bureaucratically with DEI mandates and other schemes to expand administrative control. That is how Dr. Jones has voted repeatedly. The DEI mandates have been vanquished and the district, not bogged down by them, has returned to an ‘A’ rating.
Rob MacCallum told The Sunshine Journal very simply concerning the Title IX vote made by Dr. Jones, “As an elected official, you are accountable for your votes on action items.”
Mr. MacCallum understands you do not get do-overs. Regardless of your principled past, your vote today is what matters. If you go against your principled past in your vote over a negligible fear, then your vote deserves even more scrutiny. Mr. MacCallum gets it.
His vision to direct control back to the classrooms will further the innovation in our school district that Dr. Moore has embraced with real results. He is a strong advocate for cell phone free classrooms. Every student has a right to uninterrupted instruction.
Mr. MacCallum has succeeded in building successful businesses in insurance and real estate. Mentoring people in both industries is hard work and requires a thorough understanding of governing business principles. It also requires building relational trust as a family is guided through their most important purchases. Mr. MacCallum has served people so they can be successful. He sets the vision, shares the rules and guides the process with common sense direction achieving results for those he mentors.
In the debates, he came across very matter-of-fact and even-keeled. It was almost too ordinary. It was not emotional or based on false premises. Mr. MacCallum knows he is not the star. He doesn’t need to be engraved on Mount Rushmore. He understands the students, their parents and teachers he will serve are the stars.
The Sunshine Journal endorses Rob MacCallum for School Board.
District 5 - challenger, David Dyer vs. incumbent, Kevin McDonald.
The latest Sunshine Journal picture of David Dyer says everything. The campaign of Mr. Dyer represents exactly everything that is wrong in the local politics of Indian River County. The manager of the campaign, Jeff Andros, will not let our publication even use a nice picture of the candidate. So, the Sunshine Journal’s crack digital art department rendered one as best they could.
One of Mr. Dyer’s strengths is his CEO work with Land’s End, Tommy Hilfiger, J. Crew and Chico Fas. Before being a candidate, he was enjoying the fruits of his labor and engaged in philanthropic endeavors like being the vice chairman of The Learning Alliance (TLA). According to the March 28th Vero News / 32963 , the Chairman of TLA, Ray Oglethorpe, convinced him to run.
The former CEO filed on February 13th. His talking point at debates was the school budget. He constantly stumped how he wants to do a budget analysis of the school district and apply his expertise.
In order to gage what that might look like, check his campaign finances. How has the former CEO of billion dollar companies managed the finances of his campaign?
According to candidate financial reports at the Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Dyer’s campaign has raised $118,910 in donations. Of that cash, $50,000 was put in by Mr. Dyer. Outside donations total $68,910.
Expenses for his campaign have totaled $88,615. However, $75,000 in 4 payments have been paid to his campaign manager. The manager has consumed 109% of third-party donations. If Mr. Dyer, doesn’t infuse his campaign with his own cash, it is nearly $20,000 in the hole.
Should Mr. Dyer win, the question The Sunshine Journal asks, “If the school district runs into cost overruns after Mr. Dyer starts tinkering with the budget will he be pulling from his largesse to cover them?”
Also, The Sunshine didn’t forget the additional $54,850 in Education First for IRC PAC money funded by Mr. Dyer and island friends including 9 TLA members.
The overt TLA support suggests why he was encouraged to run. When TLA came into the district in 2012, the ELA scores for third grade were 63% reading at grade level. 12 years later, scores are 64% of third graders reading at grade level. Last year 3rd grade was 7th in state. This year, it dropped to 15th. Time is running out on proving their literacy model.
Secondly, Mr. Dyer refuses to speak with large segments of voters. Moms for Liberty - Indian River chairman, Jennifer Pippin, has not had a single conversation with the candidate. Mrs. Pippin has reached out on multiple occasions. The local chapter could represent 20% of the vote in this election. Matter of fact, other than a few forums and certain media, Mr. Dyer is hard to find. He has never spoken with The Sunshine Journal, even when the editor introduced himself to ask for a picture.
On the other hand, Kevin McDonald has an average budget for a local school board race. His campaign is on budget too. He put in $10,000 of his own funds to start. He has raised another $26,323. His expenses are $26,152.
Before he decided to run, Mr. McDonald and his campaign manager came to monthly school board meetings. Mr. McDonald has sat on school boards and is completely aware of the rules of governance. According to a colleague, he is the most educated on procedure currently at the school board.
When Mr. McDonald declared his candidacy, The Sunshine Journal learned about he and his wife’s commitment to the mission of service. As an example, after the McDonalds moved to Florida, Kevin was still the president of the Geneva School. He traveled back and forth to NYC at his own expense to fulfill the commitment. He is a successful leader of educators.
Since Governor DeSantis appointed him, Mr. McDonald has been through the learning curve that comes with being an elected representative. If you go to a school board meeting, he is constantly writing notes about each citizen comment he hears. Like Mr. MacCallum, he understands the mission of governing and is not beholden to an organizational special interest.
The Sunshine Journal endorses Kevin McDonald for School Board.
“The manager of the campaign, Jeff Andros, will not let our publication even use a nice picture of the candidate. So, the Sunshine Journal’s crack digital art department rendered one as best they could”. Best line EVER!!
MacCallum and McDonald are by far the Best picks for the Best interests of our children. They have my vote!