Jonas and the Whale

What do we know about Forest Hills School Board President, Sara Jonas? We are limited to the info presented on the District website and the Ohio Resident Database, but we can (and will) judge her by her actions and the basic-ness of the latte she orders from the Kroger Starbucks ... which is mind-numbingly basic.

Got your attention! But we can, with 78% certainty, dispel the totally made up rumor that Sara Jonas is part of the secret society known as the Illuminati. Some people believe that she styles her hair to give her profile the appearance of the “Eye of Providence” — The triangular symbol used in Illuminati lore. But, besides the shape of her head, and the demeanor of someone who would take delight in popping a small child’s balloon, we cannot confirm that those rumors are true.

What’s true is that Sara Jonas ran a school board campaign as an anti-CRT candidate. We now know, from examples across the United States, that CRT (Critical Race Theory — for those born under a rock) was being used as a coordinated “false flag” to give extremist Republicans a baby-step into politics. The plan was a complete extremist takeover from the ground up, starting with local School Boards — the lowest level of government. With the influence of Chris Rufo, conflating unrelated topics (like diversity, equity and inclusion) into a new bucket called CRT, school boards nationwide were taken over by right-wing extremists like Sara Jonas.

Board President Jonas has a history of distancing herself from the truth. First example is the truth behind cancelling Turpin High School’s (opt-in via permission slip) tradition of Diversity Day. The reason for cancellation that Sara Jonas and the other conservative board members landed on at the time (2022), was that they didn’t want the event to use school resources paid for by taxpayers. But how much did that one event cost? Not much, really. So, what was Jonas’ real issue? What is the truth? Turns out that the anti-CRT extremists had an issue with certain language, activities and content of the event. They especially had an issue with students discussing social justice — a topic rooted in American history and freedom (see: Emancipation Proclamation and Civil Rights Movement).

What was the truth behind the “Culture of Kindness” resolution? That’s the next item up on The Price is Racist! Bidding starts at non-enforceable “vision statement” and ends in court settlement!

If you live near the Forest Hills School District and are not familiar with the “Resolution to Create a Culture of Kindness and Equal Opportunity for All Students and Staff,” (Most gas-lit name ever!) then you really HAVE been living under a rock. With the direction of right-wing, MAGA extremist — and member of the teensiest school board-based shadow government — Megan Fullen, Sara Jonas successfully frightened teachers and students out of discussing anything to do with race, socioeconomic class, religion, gender identity, sex, sexual preference, ethnicity, or culture. Jonas first described it as a “vision statement” soon pivoting her reason to “making sure that ‘both sides’ are always being taught to the students.” Why? Because our students really need to have more sympathy for Nazis during WWII by learning their point of view? C’mon Frau Jonas! Don’t be lächerlich!

After multiple public statements saying “The Board intends to vigorously defend the Resolution’s validity and the Board’s legal authority to adopt the Resolution …” They ultimately settled with the plaintiffs. Turns out racism doesn’t pay.

The biggest lie that Sara Jonas and the rest of the extremist School Board Members are guilty of is one of omission. It wasn’t the first time that Forest Hills Board Members discussed consolidating high schools. It happened once in 2010. But this time, Sara Jonas was involved, and it was done solely behind closed doors. The story was eventually outed by a local public school advocacy group called Advocate FHSD. They outlined the plan that was unfolding in secret while digging into the details of former Forest Hills Board Member, Rich Neuman, and his history of rushed development deals. Advocate FHSD was riding high on that huge piece of research, but we haven’t heard many revelations from them since. Does that mean the political extremists on the Board are done with their secretive B.S.? Nah, we don’t think so.

Sara Jonas mentioned at a recent School Board meeting that there was a routine, “quarterly meeting” that happened between the School District, Park District and Township Trustees. She offered no additional info to the rest of the Board. We know that “quarterly” means more than once a year. But they stopped having those meetings a year ago because Dominic Wolfer (Park Board) was running to oust Dee Stone as Trustee.

We had a representative in the back of the room at the June Park Board meeting. Someone stood up in the front to ask about a meeting between the three organizations. He found out that it was not their routine “quarterly” engagement. The meeting was specifically scheduled to talk about a new recreation center and conducting a joint survey about possible amenities. Why would Jonas NOT mention that they agreed to collaborate on a survey at the last School Board meeting? Isn’t keeping the rest of the Board informed part of her duty as Board President? Why the secrets?

Much like Jonah tried to hide from God in that bible story, Ms. Jonas hides from the truth. It is our job to be the whale ... Or Captain Ahab … or whatever. The metaphor was just so we could have a catchy title for this story. But we must remind her that she can’t hide forever. Afterall, she ran a campaign and was elected with the promise of transparency.