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| Former Lakota (Ohio) school board member Darbi Boddy |
I got this news from The Buckeye Flame, which is led by award-winning journalist Ken Schneck. Both The Buckeye Flame and Schneck underscore the importance of reading and supporting LGBTQ-oriented news sources and blogs, "Mainstream" news sources never seem to do us justice.
While school board members are portrayed as generally at odds with each other, this particular school board in Lakota (Ohio) were all in agreement about one thing during a special March 20 meeting - fellow board member Darbi Boddy had to go. And except for one person who abstained, they voted unanimously (3-0) to dismiss her. The one who abstain probably did so for reasons not necessarily complimentary to Boddy.
To hear the story, Boddy was responsible for a two-year reign of terror which left the school board and some members of the community completely exhausted and happy that she was dismissed.
From The Buckeye Flame (3/26/24):
Boddy was elected to the Lakota board, which covers the Cincinnati suburbs of West Liberty and Westchester townships, in November 2021. She ran on a platform of “teaching the greatness of America.” According to her campaign website, this greatness includes:
Ending the promotion of “racist ideologies to our students and faculty,” including “the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter.”
The “honest teaching of American history.” America, she stated, has “given peasants the lifestyle of kings and more liberty and more wealth to minorities than any country in human history.”
The “honest teaching of the sexes in our classrooms,” including “the fact that sex is determined at birth and cannot be changed” and the elimination of “boys’ competing in girls’ sports programs.”
Boddy subsequently won a seat on the school board. That is when all hell broke loose with her holding the pitchfork:
In April 2021, only a few months after she was elected, Boddy was censured after she posted links to sexual content on Facebook. She claimed the links were a typo, but said they were representative of the pornography being taught in the schools.
At a November 2021 meeting, in front of a group of second graders being recognized for their civility and leadership, Boddy repeatedly kept yelling and disrupting the order of the meeting, all while her young daughter was crouched under the table.
At that meeting, Boddy proposed banning trans students from athletics and forfeiting any athletic competitions against teams with trans students. That motion was defeated 4-1.
Boddy further attempted to ban trans athletes and bathroom access for trans students at an April 2023 meeting. She again repeatedly yelled, interrupted her colleagues and was ruled out of order. An exasperated Casper called her a “petulant child.”
(You can view moments from the explosive meeting here courtesy of Schneck)
Between meetings, Boddy posted a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ and “anti-woke” articles and videos on her Facebook page. She has alleged that National Geographic is an activist publication that supports predators, that Pride flags represent exclusion, and that “there is no such thing as transgender.”
She also reposted an unsigned letter alleging sexual assault in a Lakota school bathroom. There was no evidence or corroboration connected to the post.
In addition, according to City Beat (8/9/23), Boddy began in a campaign of smears against Lakota School Superintendent Matt Miller; one that ended with him resigning:
Months later, during the start of the 2022-2023 school year, Boddy began zeroing in on Lakota Superintendent Matt Miller. Boddy claimed he was personally promoting CRT at Lakota Schools and that he engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct. Complaints from Boddy and community members led to an investigation from the Butler County Sheriff’s department, which found no probable cause for criminal charges against Miller, according to the board.
The board conducted its own investigation, which also came up with nothing, but Boddy reportedly pressed the allegations further during school board meetings. Miller ultimately resigned as superintendent, directly blaming Boddy for creating a hostile working environment and alleging she’d promoted threats of violence against him and his family.
Boddy's manic stridency finally got her into trouble when she began targeting fellow school board member Issac Adi. Adi was the one who abstained in the vote to dismiss her. One thinks that if he had voted to dismiss her, she would have been able to claim impropriety because she harassed him so badly that he filed a civil protection stalking order against her.
From The Buckeye Flame:
According to court documents, Boddy confronted Adi at an April 2023 conservative leadership conference in Florida, accosting him in front of witnesses. She claimed he wasn’t conservative enough.
On June 22, Boddy posted a video to Facebook of her confronting Adi, claiming he said that her “brain was empty.” She filed an assault report after Adi was seen in the video pushing her camera away, but the Butler County Sheriff’s Office did not move forward with charges.
Adi filed a civil protection stalking order against Boddy in September 2023, but an exception was made for them to present at the same school board meetings pending Boddy’s appeal to the order. When that appeal was denied, she was issued a citation when she tried to enter a school board meeting in November.
Also, according to CityBeat (9/21/23):
The order details a months-long pattern of targeted harassment from Boddy towards Adi.
"[Adi] contends that certain actions taken by [Boddy] have caused, and will continue to cause, him mental distress. He further contends that the mental distress caused by [Boddy] has resulted in hospitalization," the order reads.
Adi testified that he was hospitalized for three days due to stress, and witnesses testified that Adi had indicated his health was declining as a result of interactions with Boddy.
This subsequently caused Boddy to miss school board meetings for over 90 days. That led to the board being able to dismiss her.
From The Buckeye Flame:
The resolution they passed dismissed Boddy pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code that states a seat shall be vacated when a board member is absent from board meetings for a period of 90 days, if the reason for the absence is declared insufficient by two-thirds of the Board.
Immediately following the vote, Shaffer announced a vacancy on the board. Applause was heard as the meeting adjourned.
Less than a day later, Boddy’s picture was removed from the board’s website.
