Since Terri Cunningham-Swanson claimed to be so keen on protecting minors, it was interesting to see that one of the main people she and her followers have been attacking is a young man by the name of Jayden Speed. Jayden was a student who graduated from an adjacent school district and political science major brought in to run the recall campaign once the petition was successful.
At this point in October, the second attempt to get enough petition signatures to force a recall election was well underway and it was successful.
Terri’s Sad Days
On November 6, 2023, the election commission received the second batch of recall petitions. Of the over 900 signatures turned in for validation, 859 were accepted. The number needed to put the issue on the ballot was 686.
The school board reconvened on November 13, 2023 and several community members attended to urge them to either accept the recommendations (7) or ban the books (2). Much discussion followed, along with a vote.
Once the review committee’s recommendations were accepted 7 to 1, the board later addressed the requirement to set a recall election for Terri Cunningham-Swanson. Terri abstained from the vote, which was carried with all 7 other board members who were present voting. Though Terri and her followers blamed the board for being “behind the recall,” it was clear from the number of valid signatures that it was the people of Plattsmouth who had risen up to fight her extremist agenda.
Rather than resign, gracefully or not, Terri decided to fight to retain her seat, even after complaining time and again that fellow board members, their spouses and teachers in the district had also signed the petitions to recall her.
The recall committee created a website laying out the reasons for the recall election, which had expanded beyond books throughout the year. These reasons included the cost of her book banning crusade. Terri’s response was that she was not at fault for the expense of the book review ($9,175 paid to employees who served on the book review committee and $5,436.10 in attorney’s fees), the recall election (an as of yet unknown amount for which the school district foots the bill), or the division in the community.
The obsession Terri and her followers—especially Justin Jensen—had with the “purity” rhetoric hit a fever pitch after the November meeting, as well as the fight between both campaigns.
Terri’s supporters continued to complain that some folks on the recall committee don’t reside directly in the district or attend Plattsmouth schools, ignoring the fact that neither Terri nor her children (nor a good number of her supporters) attended the schools nor lived in the district.
We have been watching both campaigns fight and call each other out, from the recall side pointing out the intellectual dishonesty on Terri’s side, to Terri’s supporters calling for the doxing and harassment of the teachers and staff members on the review committee.
It’s terribly sad to see a small town fall apart over this. We don’t know what the outcome of the vote will be once the ballots are tallied on January 9, 2024.
We believe Terri went into this with a noble endeavor in mind: to protect children. The problem was her claims have no basis in reality (check out the interactive Conspiracy Chart, where you will find Terri and her followers’ views, mostly above “The Antisemetic Point of No Return”).
Fighting an imaginary foe meant stomping all over the rights of parents in the process. And a community continues to suffer because of it.
All we know for sure is that there are no winners when freedom is attacked and knowledge is suppressed.
Sarah Wants Her Fifty Dollars!
By the way, child purity fanatic Justin Jensen has posted multiple claims that the proponents of the recall have stolen “Vote No” signs. When he posted his latest claim of theft, along with the promise of a $50 reward for news leading to the signs, Sarah Slattery responded to inform him that city workers have been taking down signs.
We have only one question: did Justin ever keep his promise and pay up?
