Photo illustration courtesy of the New Times.

   Picture San Luis Obispo. What do you see?

  A loving community focused on acceptance and kindness, or one riddled with QAnon conspiracies, “pray the gay away” homophobia, and blatent racism? 

  All communities have issues to work through and everyone has a right to voice their beliefs, but should far-right conspiracy theories and hate speech have a place on a school board? 

  During the 2020 general election, two school board seats were up for grabs.

  Eve Dobler-Drew was one of the three candidates for Governing Board Trustee, Area 1, along with incumbent Kathryn Eisendrath-Rogers and former board member Walt Millar.

  Dobler-Drew won election, unseating Millar, who had been a board member for twenty years.

  In the final months before the election, some of Dobler-Drew’s social media posts, spewing QAnon conspiracies and calls for gay conversion therapy, were reported by the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

A QAnon conspiracy video Dobler-Drew reposted on Facebook. The post has since been deleted.

  She also called philanthropist Melinda Gates “Satanic”, spreading false information about COVID-19, made hostile comments towards the Black Lives Matter movement, and said police brutality victim George Floyd “should not be martyred today”.

One of Eve Dobler-Drew’s now deleted tweets on Twitter following the murder of George Floyd at police officer Derek Chauvin’s hands. Photo courtesy of the Tribune.

  However, Dobler-Drew’s Facebook and Twitter posts were deleted during the election process, raising concern about her transparency with voters.

  On December 15, Dobler-Drew was sworn into the SLCUSD school board. Many students, teachers, parents, and community members have fears about the impact she will have on marginalized students and her votes on the school board.

  The public comments section on the December 15 board meeting took roughly an hour, with many community members calling for the resignation of Dobler-Drew. 

  “Remember when, after you found out I was gay, you told my mom at a Christmas party that I should look into the Changed Movement and see if I can get ‘cured’ of homosexuality? I do. And I know, personally, the damaging effects of so-called conversion therapy. LGBTQ youth who undergo conversion therapy are eight times more likely to die by suicide. But Eve doesn’t care. If she could, she’d have Changed Movement terrorize gay and trans youth in every school in the district,” said community member Dillon Dean James. 

    San Luis Obispo High School is known to be a school championing equity and acceptance for all walks of life, and the harmful rhetoric of Dobler-Drew is far from reflecting those values. 

“Dobler-Drew has caused great harm with her words to the most minoritized amongst us. It is unconscionable, to me, that our community would have on a board — charged with uplifting facts, knowledge, science and, most importantly, uplifting our youngest and most impressionable minds — someone who has expressed a proud and blatant disregard for basic human dignity for all people,” said Mayor Heidi Harmon.

  We, as the student newspaper for SLOHS, have a responsibility and duty to represent the student body. Expressions calls for Dobler-Drew to resign and for the district to take a stance opposing Dobler-Drew’s views. 

  The First Amendment allows citizens to use their right of free speech, but that does not mean that it comes without consequences.

  Ms. Dobler-Drew has every right to believe in what she wishes, but students and parents should be watchful of her influence in school board meetings.

  Dobler-Drew was hiding the fact that she held these beliefs, which do not represent her constituents including the students, faculty, teachers, and parents.

  As members of the community, we have the power to recall Dobler-Drew from her seat if she doesn’t properly represent her constituents.

  Dobler-Drew represents a growing belief in government conspiracy and radical religious beliefs. Those beliefs in no way have a place on the SLCUSD school board.

  Having a radical religious conspiracy theorist in a “non-partisan” elected office affirms those beliefs and gives it a platform to spread more fear, hatred, and confusion.

“Heidi Harmon is a fierce advocate for equity, inclusivity, and students in our community. I admire and share in that advocacy, with that said, however, I believe Ms. Dobler-Drew deserves an opportunity to demonstrate her advocacy for our students and school community,” said Superintendent Dr. Eric Prater. 

  If she felt the need to delete her comments and posts, she must have known that she was either saying something controversial that could affect her chances of getting elected or that her comments were wrong. 

  It is important that in the coming school board meetings, students, parents, and teachers should address her comments and uncover what her values truly are. It is important because her views can affect students’ lives and pave the way for more dangerous rhetoric plaguing our lives.

A video Dobler-Drew reposted on her Facebook from the “Changed” pro-conversion therapy movement. The post is now deleted. Photo courtesy of The Tribune.

  “Not only did this hit close to home for me as an openly gay editor-in-chief, but we have other LGBTQ+ writers, editors, and allies who reacted in fear and in disappointment. The video she reposted on Facebook about conversion therapy is unacceptable, whether her social media posts on controversial issues are in the past or not,” said Expressions co-editor-in-chief and sophomore Izzy Nino de Rivera at the board meeting Tuesday night. “LGBTQ+ students at SLOHS are already hyper-aware of homophobia. They have also come out and said they do not feel safe with Dobler-Drew on the board. I do not feel safe with Dobler-Drew on the Board either.”

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