CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- There were tense moments during public comment at the Chesterfield School Board meeting Tuesday night after a group of parents said they plan to file complaints about the district’s handling of several hot button issues.
The group of 11 parents said they plan to lodge those complaints with the company that holds the surety bond for Chesterfield’s superintendent, although legal experts cast doubt on whether the effort will bear any fruit for the filers.
“I’m here to publicly serve the board this notice of intent to file a claim against your risk management plan,” said Nancy DeFranco Tuesday, a refrain repeated by multiple parents.
The group has a lengthy list of demands and alleges multiple violations of international, federal, and felony-level state law based on school policy. Those demands include ending COVID-19 mitigation restrictions, removal of materials the group considers sexually obscene and halting certain transgender policies within schools. The public comments included several examples.
“Our public school system has become a hostile environment for our children. The school board has enforced illegal mask policies,” said Matthew McNeil.
“Your school board is distributing offensive material and pushing the LGBTQ agenda in schools. You and your school board members are in direct violation of the Geneva Declaration,” said Doris Canick.
A spokesperson for Chesterfield Schools sent CBS 6 the following statement: “We respectfully decline to comment.”
In an interview with CBS 6 Wednesday, two of the parents, Heather Mitchell and Anne Taydus, said growing frustration over school policy led to their involvement and the parents plan to file the complaints Monday.
“They have to decipher, do these parents know what they’re talking about or is this a fact or is this made up. So there is no attorney need, there’s no court needed,” Mitchell said.
The parents said they are basing their efforts on a national group, founded in 2022, according to their website, called “Bonds for the Win.” The website provides form documents for groups to fill out and file. “Bonds for the Win” claims the complaints can compel public officials to change policy or potentially face removal.
Their main website includes several links, but a button at the top of the page takes users to a YouTube account that includes references and content about the Q-Anon conspiracy theory.
The Chesterfield parents were adamant they are not connected to the Q-Anon movement and Mitchell said she heard about “Bonds for the Win” from parent groups in other states who were frustrated with school policy.
“I don’t know who Q-Anon is,” Mitchell said.
“The trust was eroded initially slowly,” Taydus said of the school board and superintendent. “But they were given ample chances, repeated chances, to do what is right.”
CBS 6 asked legal analyst Todd Stone to review the document. Stone said many of the criminal statutes cited within it do not pertain to the claims the groups make.
“There are many criminal offenses listed here that don’t have evidence to support them factually and there are many that cite laws that apply in this situation,” Stone said.
For example, one allegation cites violations of a “class one felony” for requiring masks in schools and teaching divisive topics. Stone said a class one felony in Virginia is reserved for capital murder offenses.
“A lawyer is going to look at this and say well, the law that they cite doesn't apply. The facts that they recite are wrong in many cases, and in those cases where they are correct, they don’t substantiate the criminal offenses they are alleging. Those are the things a surety is going to be considering, and I don’t think it’s going to go very far because of that,” Stone said.
Taydus said they hope the school district acknowledges their complaints but said they plan to file them Monday.
