We initially became concerned with Stacey Whomsley’s WCASD School Board candidacy when she refused to denounce her running mate Ada Nestor’s long history of blatant bigotry and QAnon conspiracy theories. What has unfolded since then is a story of Ms. Whomsley’s willingness to embrace extremism, bully parents, and break her own rules in order to advance her political ambitions.
Publicly verifiable information and new public records of district communication reveal Ms. Whomsley has repeatedly broken the trust of our community:
She has targeted private citizens and violated their privacy by sharing information from private Facebook groups to WCASD administration, accusing a list of parents of “sabotage”.
She has made duplicitous and contradictory claims, repeatedly using an optional Social Justice class that she previously praised as evidence that the district is “teaching children… to feel bad about themselves”.
She has bullied and blocked community members who ask questions or present opposing views on her social media platforms.
She has embraced an extremist movement that has been linked to aggressive tactics and targeting and harassment of school officials and students.
She has participated in attempts to mislead the public about her running mate’s long history of troubling content, bigoted views, and near-delusional QAnon conspiracy theories.
She has broken the Positivity Pledge to which she committed at the beginning of her campaign, and which she publicly exhorted the entire WCASD community to follow.
Targeting Private Citizens
Despite publicly complaining when information of hers was shared with district administration, Ms. Whomsley has acted as a self-appointed informant, feeding a list of parent names to WCASD administration and accusing these parents of “sabotage” based on their comments in Facebook groups discussing WCASD and brick and mortar education.
Public records of district communication reveal that in an email dated October 12, 2020, Ms. Whomsley alerted Starkweather Elementary Principal John Meanix to a list of specific individuals who she claimed were posting in Facebook groups “with the intention of undermining the district” by “pretending” to seek facts about COVID cases in schools. Indicating she provided the same information to then-Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon, Ms. Whomsley accuses the parents of spreading rumors and speculation, while describing herself as “standing up for the district”.
[NOTE: The redaction of the list of parent names in the image below is ours. The public records contain the unredacted list of parents. All other redaction is from the original public records.]
Despite violating the privacy of these parents and making unsupported accusations against them, on April 26, Stacey Whomsley would publicly address the current Board of Directors to complain about her own information being shared with district administration. In what would emerge over the coming months as a pattern of performative public accusation-making against the district, video shows that Ms. Whomsley complained the district had violated her privacy and “doxed” her, claiming that a district employee had provided content Ms. Whomsley had written in a private Facebook group to members of WCASD administration. Ms. Whomsley harshly condemned the action as “intentional deceit,” characterizing it as “the core of what has eroded our trust in this administration and this board.”
Ms. Whomsley’s public complaint – shocking considering her past behavior – revealed that she believes sharing this type of information with WCASD administration to be a serious offense: a violation of privacy, an act of deceit, and a breach of trust.
If her characterization is true, then Ms. Whomsley is guilty on all counts.
Making Duplicitous Claims about Critical Race Theory
In her efforts to advance the narrative that WCASD uses Critical Race Theory (CRT) in its curriculum, Ms. Whomsley has repeatedly cited the example of an optional WCASD summer learning program that included the topic of “Social Justice” in summer of 2020. The class and it's purported use of CRT has been a key piece of Ms. Whomsley's campaign. In her blog as well as in multiple public comments to the board and administration, Ms. Whomsley has described this optional summer learning module as problematic and as “teaching children… to feel bad about themselves and their ethnicity.” In one of her multiple public comments to the board strenuously condemning the class, she called on the district to “cease and desist”.
As a political candidate, Ms. Whomsley has stated that at the time of the class, she felt that “reading material presented was not appropriate for rising second or third graders.”
However, these claims are contradicted by Ms. Whomsley’s own description of the class prior to becoming a political candidate. Public records of district communication reveal that Ms. Whomsley praised the class two months after her child completed it. In an email to then-Superintended Dr. Jim Scanlon, Ms. Whomsley called the class “impressive,” and said that it “addressed the sensitive subject of racism” and was “able to handle that appropriately”.
Ms. Whomsley’s clear contradiction of her prior statements raises serious questions about her honesty as a candidate and as a potential School Board Director.
Bullying Community Members
Another extremely troubling facet of Stacey Whomsley’s campaign is her pattern of wholly inappropriate engagement with voters, using her campaign’s social media presence to silence, block, and bully voters. While many voters have chosen to remain quiet about their treatment at the hands of this candidate, a few have spoken out or made public statements. One recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Times of Chester County. In the letter, headlined “Whomsley is a bully and does not represent WCASD families,” the voter says “Ms. Whomsley launched an attack on me personally . . . When others defended me, she bullied them as well. When I defended myself, she hid my responses and then deleted them.”
This voter, herself the parent of a disabled child, expressed shock at being treated in this manner by someone courting her vote. Our group contacted her requesting more background on the exchange with Ms. Whomsley, and she provided screenshots of the interaction. The screenshots, pictured below, show that after the voter asked a question about her stance on masking, Ms. Whomsley chastised her in a lengthy comment. Presuming to know more than she did about this voter, Ms. Whomsley admonished this mother of a severely disabled child for insulting the special needs community by “minimizing children with disabilities” and condescendingly accused her of not understanding how completing documentation for ADA accommodations “is burdensome and intrusive to families already managing disabilities.”
After the voter replied to defend herself and explain that she is a part of the special needs parent community who Ms. Whomsley claims to represent, the entire chain of comments was deleted from Ms. Whomsley’s campaign Facebook page, removing the record of the voter’s initial question and Ms. Whomsley’s derogatory response.
In a comment later deleted, Ms. Whomsley accuses a parent of minimizing children with disabilities.
After the Times of Chester County letter was published, other voters concurred with the author, one commenting “I am one of the many that have been banned & blocked for asking Stacey Whomsley a reasonable question.”
Our group followed up with the author of the letter to ask whether Ms. Whomsley had reached out to her after publication. She responded,
“I did wonder if she would reach out after my piece ran, but she did not. However, so many others did. I heard from literally dozens of people--many of whom were perfect strangers--who thanked me for writing the piece. I thought it was interesting and also quite telling that nearly all of them said they'd had similar experiences with Stacey Whomsley but had been afraid to go public for fear of retribution.”
In another instance, Ms. Whomsley used her blog to publish a private email exchange with a voter who asked a question about equity, eventually accusing the voter of “cancel culture” and saying that the voter “will have a hard time in life.” While the voter’s name was redacted, the exchange is another example of Ms. Whomley’s brazenness in personally attacking, insulting, and arguing with individuals she hopes to represent.
Several voters who have relayed details of such interactions with Ms. Whomsley have asked to remain nameless as they fear -- or have already endured -- retribution from her and her supporters.
Embracing an Aggressive, Extremist Movement
Aligning with a QAnon-affiliated running mate who has expressed bigotry and near-delusional conspiracy theories is not the only indication of Stacey Whomsley’s extremism. Ms. Whomsley is affiliated with the fast-growing ultra-conservative group called Moms for Liberty, which prides itself on being the “watchdog” of public education and embraces harmful platform ideals. This group is making news around the country for their extremely aggressive tactics, as reported in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and elsewhere. Moms for Liberty members have called for book bans and have been present at aggressive school board meeting protests, including one in which parents who supported a mask policy were swarmed, harassed, threatened, and initially prevented from leaving. Moms for Liberty has been particularly vocal in its aggressive anti-LGBTQ stance and has been linked to anti-LGBTQ protests at homes of local officials, schools, and school board meetings, including a protest against a 16-year-old student where anti-gay slurs were used.
As the screenshots below illustrate, Ms. Whomsley has closely aligned with Moms for Liberty, using their banner on her public social media profile picture. Public social media posts of a Moms for Liberty meeting show Ms. Whomsley in attendance and featured on the agenda as a speaker.
More evidence of Ms. Whomsley’s political extremism are steps she has taken to dismantle public education in the community by advocating for “school choice,” a misleadingly named initiative designed to siphon money from public schools to support charter schools, many of which have ties to religious or political organizations. This initiative is directly supported and orchestrated by the Moms for Liberty group as well as the local Republican committee, and contradicts Ms. Whomsley’s claims to support the school district and teachers.
Ms. Whomsley herself applied in November 2020 to establish a micro-charter school in WCASD. Her charter school application, which contains lengthy sections that appear to be a word-for-word match to an online sample application on sale for $79, was denied by WCASD in December 2020. WCASD administration cited the following reason for the denial: “The application doesn't demonstrate sustainable support from the community or how it will support comprehensive learning experiences for students. The application also fails to provide any fiscal stability to operate, nor does it serve as a model for other public schools.”
Ms. Whomsley’s school board campaign appears in part to be a direct reaction to WCASD’s denial of her charter school application. A Daily Signal article featuring Ms. Whomsley states that “moments after receiving [the denial] notification, Whomsley emailed to say: ‘My candidacy for school board is official, as of tonight.’”
Attempting to Mislead the Public
When questions began to arise about Ada Nestor’s history of bigoted online statements and QAnon participation, she lashed out in a statement published on her campaign Facebook page, accusing “progressive leftists in WCASD [of] literally tearing our community apart with toxic social media posts.” On that post, Stacey Whomsley participated in comments and made it clear that not only would she not be denouncing Ms. Nestor’s offensive and dangerous views, she would actively participate in Ms. Nestor’s attempt to mislead voters about the troubling content.
Chastising constituents who have raised questions or pointed out Ms. Nestor’s problematic history, Ms. Whomsley went on the attack, accusing them of “hiding in the shadows”, “undermin[ing] our democratic republic”, “strip[ping] voters of their right to make an informed choice”, and participating in “collective actions of hate”.
Ms. Whomsley disingenuously likened Ms. Nestor’s years-long history of bigoted and disturbing QAnon content to “becom[ing] a student of history along with a large group of people who are the actual contributors to ‘Anonymous’ Ada.”
Ms. Whomsley ventured to speak on behalf of Ms. Nestor, saying:
“Neither Ada or I support QAnon. Let alone believe it is real. I would be less surprised if Santa Claus knocked on my door tomorrow than if you can find proof of QAnon existing – because what you are promoting is a conspiracy theory. Not truth. Conspiracy. Qanon is not real. We do not support it. And that is the truth.”
This statement was in spite of detailed documentation demonstrating Ms. Nestor’s QAnon involvement. It is striking that Ms. Whomsley, in her attempt to deflect and mischaracterize, has made absolutely no attempt to denounce or even distance herself from Ms. Nestor’s blatantly bigoted statements and wild conspiracy theories.
Breaking her Positivity Pledge
Ms. Whomsley published a signed “Pledge of Positive Campaigning” in April and has publicly urged the entire WCASD community to commit to positive discourse.
In the pledge, she promises to direct her volunteers and paid campaign staff to participate in a “positive campaign.” She pledges not to condemn or attack her opponent’s personal character or reputation, pledges not to distort her opponent’s record or position or take them out of context, and to encourage “third parties who support her candidacy” to run a positive campaign as well. Should third party supporters fail to follow the pledge, Ms. Whomsley promises to “publicly ask” citizens and voters to dismiss the negative materials.
Mrs. Whomsley has repeatedly and publicly broken this pledge:
On June 28th, Ms. Whomsley’s campaign manager Beth Ann Rosica (herself a candidate for Mayor of West Chester) used hearsay and secondhand opinion to attack the reputation of Ms. Whomsley’s opponent and current board president, Chris McCune. Ms. Rosica publicly addressed the school board and described a conversation she had with a neighbor of Mr. McCune (watch here at 55:15). Ms. Rosica paraphrased her conversation with Mr. McCune’s neighbor and used her interpretation of the neighbor’s opinions and speculation regarding Mr. McCune’s views to imply that Mr. McCune has been less than forthright in describing his voting record and position on equity in curriculum. Ms. Whomsley addressed the board and community in the same meeting, just after Ms. Rosica’s statements, but failed to address or condemn Ms. Rosica’s defamatory and baseless attack against her opponent, thus breaking her pledge. At no point has Ms. Whomsley followed through on her promise to publicly ask citizens to dismiss Ms. Rosica's negative statements.
On August 19th, Ms. Whomsley named and criticized her campaign team’s opponent and incumbent, Joyce Chester, for failing to wear a mask during a virtual Board meeting. In the meeting, Ms. Chester was seated next to a fellow board member in a private residence. Ms. Whomsley published a photo of Ms. Chester and mocked her, sarcastically asking “Is it safe to sit indoors without a mask? Or isn’t it Joyce?” Ms. Chester had voted during the meeting to advance the WCASD Revised Health and Safety Plan, with masking required for students. Ms. Whomsley's derogatory comment and mocking statements towards a direct opponent of her joint campaign are a clear breach of the positive campaign pledge.
On August 5th, Ms. Whomsley’s endorsing party, the Republican Committee of Chester County, published an article linking to an inflammatory video titled “Her Immigrant Voice Matters.” This video, a misleadingly edited version of the July 2021 WCASD School Board meeting, falsely claims that Ms. Whomsley’s opponent Chris McCune made physical contact with a community member while intervening during a disruptive school board commentary. This false claim of physical contact is a baseless accusation of assault against Ms. Whomsley’s opponent. Ms. Whomsley has failed to live up to her promise to speak out against this distortion and misrepresentation of Mr. McCune’s actions.
Ms. Whomsley declared in her signed positivity pledge that if she fails to uphold her promise – as has clearly been the case – she expects “voters to elect someone else to the office.”
Voters should hold Ms. Whomsley to her word and her pledge.
The role of School Director requires an individual worthy of public trust to make decisions on behalf of students and taxpayers. A political candidacy is akin to an audition; as voters, we must assume that the pattern of behavior Ms. Whomsley has demonstrated during her candidacy reflects how she would behave if elected school director. Ms. Whomsley has repeatedly breached the trust of our community and proven herself unfit to represent the students and taxpayers of WCASD.