A May 13, 2022 Daily Sentinel article discussed the outrage District 51 School Board President Andrea Haitz’s recent anti-transgender social media posts generated among people in the valley.
In her own defense, Haitz told the Sentinel she didn’t mean the memes to be hurtful, and that she “has gay and lesbian friends.” Haitz said the “memes had been misunderstood” because “people don’t always understand satire,” and said that people “made up what they thought I meant by it.”
But people didn’t make up anything, and they most definitely did not misinterpret the intent of Haitz’s posts.
How do we know?
Buried deep inside the article was additional information that affirmed Haitz’s transphobic intent, thanks to Heidi Hess of One Colorado, who provided it to the Sentinel:
Until May 12, Haitz belonged to the public Facebook group REBOOT 2022, a right wing group whose members seek to “Bring back Home Education,” and who believe “[Black Lives Matter] and antifa have threatened physical violence in Mesa County” and that they are “terrorist organizations.” REBOOT 2022’s moderator and administrator is Cindy Ficklin, according to the Sentinel.
In addition to the above parts of their online mission statement, which are distinctly racist, another line in Reboot 2022’s mission statement is a directive that clearly affirms the group’s institutionalized transphobia:
“Transgender is not an option. It’s the greatest blow to equal rights for women in America in 245 years.”
Haitz belonged to Reboot 2022 until Wednesday, May 11, when her name was suddenly removed from the group’s member list amid the scrutiny she is currently drawing over her transphobic posts.
But while she removed her name from the online group’s member list and told the Daily Sentinel she wouldn’t post any more memes as long as she was D-51 School Board President, she did not apologize to District 51 parents and Mesa County citizens, nor did she say she would make an effort gain a better understanding of transgenderism as part of the human condition, nor did she promise to treat transgender students and adults with compassion and respect.
Haitz has said she was inspired by recent legislation in Florida that critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — now a law — that bans many discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation at school through the third grade. Should have been a red flag then!
Looks like they are replacing John Williams in a special meeting tomorrow night (5/25).
https://cdn5-ss13.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_81788/File/About%20Us/Board%20of%20Education/Meetings/2021-2022/Materials%20May%2025.pdf
Yowza. It’s blatantly obvious that Reboot 2022 cannot or will not be stressing language skills in its vision for SD51. And our School Board president embraces these borderline illiterates? I fear for Mesa County youth.
How in the world does the west slope, “Back Range,” Messedup County with Grand Junktown as its county seat ever hope to move on and up and attract high level professionals with children and families when we have abhorrent school district and governmental leaders like this? Not only embarrassing, but damaging to our communities’ futures.
Excellent point. Also, how can this county encourage companies that need a highly educated workforce come to a county that would rank 41st among states in percent of those over 25 with a college degree (28.2%). The only education level that Trump won in the last election were those with only a high school diploma or high school dropouts (like Boebert).
Self professed “Christians” like Haitz and her cronies don’t seem to think Jesus’s direct admonishments apply to them. If they did, they’d spend a lot more time addressing the logs in their own eyes rather than picking at the specks in others’ eyes —- on Facebook.
Well it is baseball season xc because you’re out in left field.
Individuals can be identified by finger prints, eye scan, dental records, or DNA. There is no longer a need to check the male or female box.
Maybe this “identity box” should be “Helper or Leech.” Andrea seems to have one understanding of the world which doesn’t help.
How did the community not know this about Haitz before she was elected? Would it have made any difference?
I don’t think it would have made a difference because it seems that Mesa County Republican voters choose candidates who hate the people they hate.
Tom: Mesa County Republicans knew, and, thanks to the former one-term president’s normalizing hatred, knowingly voted for Ms.Hates (sic) and her “conservative” colleagues. Nationwide, antidemocratic Neanderthals are hijacking school boards.