A recent mailer supporting candidates for a local school board race is drawing attention not so much for what it says, but how it spells it.
The mailer, paid for by the Livingston County Republican Party, says it supports “JENNIFER BAREFIELD, STEPHANIE JOHNSON, AND ANNA RENE LAVASSEUR” in the Pinckney Community School District.
The only problem is that it isn’t Jennifer Barefield that is running, it’s Jessica Barefield. Similarly, Anne Rene LaVasseur is on the November 8 ballot, not Anna Rene LaVasseur.
The reverse side does correctly identify Jessica Barefield, but again still mistakenly refers to Anna Rene LaVasseur.
According to the mailer, the slate is running on a platform heavily borrowed from conservative talking points including that students are being indoctrinated, as evidenced by the large red banner across the mailer that says “INDOCTRINATION”.
It also alleges the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the curriculum, an accusation not based in fact as that is a university-level concept not taught in K-12 schools.
It also appears that the mailer contains a grammatical error, stating across the top of the reverse side, “PUTTING STUDENTS & PARENTS FIRST, NOT SPECIAL INTEREST,” which should be plural.
A request for comment about the errors was made to the Livingston County Republican Party, but was not returned.
Judy Daubenmier, the Chair of the Livingston County Democratic Party, said she hoped the candidates “aren’t running on a back-to-the-basics, let’s teach spelling platform.”
Daubenmier said that local Democrats are informing the public about which candidates have been endorsed by the Michigan Education Association and sharing links to candidate questionnaires “so nobody mistakenly votes for the far-right extremists that want to destroy public schools.”
However, she says they haven’t openly endorsed school board candidates “because those whose values align with ours want to stay true to the non-partisan nature of school board elections.”
