A conservative history teacher is running for office. After a Democrat operative complained to the school about her tweets, it coordinated with her political opponent on the investigation.
A Virginia school board member seeking a promotion to the state legislature may have used her position in an attempt to sabotage her election opponent — a teacher in the school district she presides over, records show.
Democrat Stella Pekarsky, who currently serves on the Fairfax County School Board, was personally involved in discussions over whether to punish Julie Perry, a history teacher who is running against her in this year’s District 36 Senate race, according to emails and calendar entries obtained by The Daily Wire through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The records show a Pekarsky donor sent Centreville High School Principal Chad Lehman a complaint objecting to conservative social media posts the history teacher made as part of her campaign. Lehman forwarded the complaint to the school board’s Assistant Superintendent Penny Gros, who said she would seek guidance about what to do. That guidance appears to have come from none other than Pekarsky, and it was followed by a memo reprimanding Perry and threatening her job.
“Your behavior negatively impacts the goals of this department and others,” the reprimand said, citing the campaign posts. “Any action that brings the school system into disrepute may be just cause for dismissal.”
Experts said the conduct of Pekarsky and taxpayer-funded employees could constitute serious misconduct intended to impact the election, saying it is improper for individual board members to be involved in the discipline of specific teachers — much less their own campaign opponents.