It's not "hate," they'll tell you.

Rob McCoy and his selected candidates for school board (Joelle Mancuso, Karen Meyer, and a third TBD) have been polishing their political statements for campaign runs. They're primed, airbrushed and dying to scare you, because fear is all they've got, really. So, I want to break down some of their polished talking points that you're going to see in their mailers, flyers and social media talking points. And, I want to then give a BRIEF recap of origins/context as it relates to this effort here locally.

---

They’ll say: “It’s not hateful to have different beliefs about what our children are taught.”
The context they leave out: If your different belief leads you to advocate for the exclusion of another child’s identity, or the exclusion of representation for ANY child … that is hateful. You can call it by any other name ya want … but at the end of the day, if your belief system is founded in exclusion of others, that is what we call hate.

They’ll say “special interest curriculum has been ushered in.”
The context they leave out:  Public school districts are complying with state law and updating curriculum per state law to be inclusive and representative of individuals and their contributions previously excluded from history because of their race, sexuality or disability. This isn't a "special" curriculum ... it's just one that's accurate, folks!

They’ll say “they misdirected funds earmarked for learning loss.”
The context they leave out: They’re advocating for the government to fund vouchers for them to engage in a mass public school exit in order to 1) send their children to private religious institutions and 2) to profit off of this exit by launching these private learning centers themselves. For the grift to work, you first have to believe that the district is mismanaging funds … and then be convinced to hand over your children and your funds (from the government) to them.

They’ll say: “they destroyed parent confidence through lack of transparency and collaboration.”
The context they leave out: Access to materials are available via the district website and office, school board meeting are public, available to the public, and live streamed. If you don’t attend meetings, if you don’t read materials and syllabi, if you don’t educate yourself via the district website … that’s not called a lack of transparency FYI. That’s called a lack of personal responsibility as a parent.

They’ll say: “Let parents parent.” (this is a throwback to Sandee Everett's campaign talking point as well).
The context they leave out: They want to be told by the district when they’re actually supposed to parent at home, instead of just doing the parenting.

They’ll say: “The government doesn’t own our children.”
The context they leave out: They actively advocate for government policies that discriminate against marginalized groups of children and actively advocate for government-funded vouchers to pay for curtailed, censored learning experiences for their children.

---

---

A NETWORK OF HATE

First, I'm not going to rehash background/things previously blogged about, so here are links to some previous blogs that provide a lot more context:

• The Rob McCoy and Sandee Everett Playbook (this is an essential one in that, you can literally sub in the new candidate, Joelle Mancuso, and it's the same. Sandee lost her re-election campaign in 2020 and then moved to a different state. So, they subbed Joelle in to carry out the next campaign run for this year's election, and much of what is recapped below, is examined in depth via this one.)
• Therefore, THIS BLOG IS ALSO RELEVANT.
• And this one is a few years old, but gives you some context on Rob McCoy.

It’s no secret that Rob McCoy and Bryce Eddie — of Godspeak Calvary Church in Newbury Park, are working overtime to secure seats on our local city council and school board.

If you’ve been paying attention, you know that this is a documented agenda of Rob McCoy’s and can be seen through his  ...
    1) Participation in David Lane’s ARP (American Renewal Project), whose primary goal is to overtake local boards and councils with pastors and religion-first candidates who will help instate a Christian Theocracy. This is documented, it’s been reported many times, there are many articles about this and Rob McCoy’s work on this front.
    2) Role on the advisory board of Public School Exit, whose mission is to “facilitate an exodus of American children and families from government-controlled education by educating the public and helping families. We are more than an organization, we are a movement.”
    3) His featured role with Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA
    4) His support of anti-public school forums hosted at Godspeak Calvary

Y’all, we know who Rob McCoy is and what McCoy is about. He’s a grifter who has created a cult following under the guise of “religion” while having a behind-the-scenes heavy hand in multiple far-right political PACs and local political propaganda papers. He boasts friendships with extremists and hosts a podcast that features his version of “constitutionalism.”

And that shouldn't surprise you all, considering he used his position as then-mayor to have flyers distributed in children’s school cubbies that promoted a paid “constitutionalism” class ("AMERICAN LEGACY LECTURES" by Rob) hosted at Godspeak, that would then come with a signed certificate by him, the pastor/mayor. That is a thing that ACTUALLY HAPPENED. He abused his position as mayor to promote a paid class at his church … in our public schools.

Oh, did I mention that Joelle Mancuso, a Rob McCoy-backed candidate for CVUSD Area 2, is BIG into Rob’s version of the constitution and history? Not only did her children not attend public school, she boasted about McCoy’s constitutionalism classes on Facebook and to date, has spoken up against ethnic studies, against LGBTQ+ students, and denies racism still exists. She talks on her flyer about the district “misdirecting funds,” but both Joelle and her husband have each filed for bankruptcy (once in 2010 and once in 2020), so I’m not entirely sure I’m confident with Joelle’s fiscal capabilities if I'm to be frank.

On her flyer she says: “It’s Time for Excellence” and says we need to focus on reading. She omits that she came and spoke at the school board meeting in support of Sandee Everett, when Everett and crew were attempting to ban books and create a core lit policy that would allow them to block books from diverse authors under a “moral decency clause.” Yes, THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Joelle demands that teachers and parents be united, but girlfriend gives two flying effs about teachers. She’s a big advocate and supporter of McCoy-backed Conejo Guardian propaganda paper and, all they do is publish hit pieces against teachers. But sure she wants to “collaborate.” Why now? Joelle had no interest in public schools for her children and homeschooled them. Why is she inserting herself into public education now? Oh yeah … did I mention the failed teaching programs she tried to launch? Her goal isn’t actually to improve public schools. It’s to destroy public school reputations, help support the mass exit of public schools, launch another “alternative learning center” (with council member Kevin McNamee) … and then take your money folks.

She wants to advance Manual Arts. HEY, that is GREAT! She should totally familiarize herself with the amazing CTE pathways programs offered at the various high school sites. These CTE teachers are doing amazing work in this area and are always looking for additional ways to fund and bring in more opportunities. My guess is Joelle Mancuso doesn’t know about it because she doesn’t actually know about our school district. My guess is Joelle doesn't actually know a lot about CTE if I'm being honest.

And finally, her fourth priority is: “teach country pride and to secure our Constitutional republic.” Y’all. … this is the woman who posted a meme implying parents should arm themselves with guns and fight back in order to ban books from our district’s libraries! That’s the constitutional “freedom” she cares about.

Joelle Mancuso’s main tagline is: Stop dumbing down education. … No one benefits MORE from an ignorant base than grifters like Joelle Mancuso. The irony of this statement coming from a woman whose entire campaign platform is to support the white washing and censorship of actual history, the removal of books from diverse authors with diverse lived experiences, and to advocate for excluding and “othering” children from safe, inclusive and representative learning environments.

If you've at all been paying attention, or are just catching up, this is a coordinated national movement from the Christian far-right to destabilize public schools and elect those who will carry out harmful policies to that end. The goal isn't to improve public schools for all. It's to dismantle public schooling and advocate for government funding for private schools that teach censored curriculums and worldviews in order to avoid their children being exposed to different people with different backgrounds. 

And, while they're doing this, they'll tell you it's about academic excellence. It's not. It's about bigotry ... bigotry they want the government to fund.