Misleading Claims in Attack Ad Target Visalia School Board Member
An attack advertisement has emerged with claims that misrepresent the actions of Randy Villegas, a candidate challenging Republican Rep. David Valadao in a highly competitive U.S. House race. The ad implies that Villegas, a member of the Visalia school board, voted to allow a sexual predator to work at a local school.
However, it has been revealed that Villegas and his fellow board members were unaware of the individual’s criminal history when the vote took place, as no public reports were available at the time.
The advertisement, supported by the GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund PAC, focuses on an October 2022 vote by the Visalia school board. This vote approved the hiring of Dejuan Jones as a campus supervisor at Mt. Whitney High School. Jones was later arrested for sexual misconduct with a student six months after his hiring.
Further investigations revealed that Jones had a troubling past, having been dismissed from the same high school in 2013 for inappropriate behavior with a student, and faced similar allegations at Monache High School.
Importantly, none of this background information was disclosed to the school board during the hiring decision. The vote, which included Jones among ten candidates and fifteen other agenda items, was advised by the Visalia Unified School District Office. The district’s pre-screening procedures did not flag Jones due to the absence of a criminal record at that time, though these protocols have since been enhanced.
Claims in the ad that “Randy Villegas hired a predator” and that it was solely “Randy’s decision” are inaccurate and overstated.
Former Visalia school board president Juan Guerrero highlighted that the issue stemmed from a “human resources failure” and noted that the board was not informed of Jones’ history before the vote. “Any political ads saying this was Randy’s decision are untrue, misleading, and profoundly disrespectful to those impacted,” Guerrero stated. “Most importantly, they don’t get us any closer to accountability and justice for victims.”
Villegas addressed the allegations during a debate on September 10, hosted by KGET. “I stand with survivors of abuse of any kind,” Villegas asserted. “And with respect to Mr. Jones, the charges against him are despicable, and he is in prison where he belongs, nowhere near our schools.”
The post School board attacks on Villegas proven to be misleading appeared first on American Journal News.
—
Read More Kitchen Table News
Comments are closed.