The Bugle: March edition letters to the editor
Morgan Brown
I was recently made aware that someone running for a position on the Rockwood School Board, Tamarah Wagner, has a history of posting racist, offensive, and hateful remarks on her social media. She has since deleted all of her social media accounts, but concerned onlookers in the past have screenshotted some of her posts and shared them with me. She berated people on Twitter, calling one person “a disgusting human being” for advocating for an anti-racist world. She attacked one of the members of the US Women’s Soccer Team when she spoke up about equality and LGBT rights, calling her “an embarrassment to society,” among other insults.
Eureka High School- and the Rockwood District as a whole- is in a very delicate and complicated situation regarding diversity and inclusion. Many students, including myself, have felt under-represented, pushed aside, ignored, and minimized by school and district administrators in the past, and now we have a woman running for a position of leadership on the Board that would most likely attempt to stall and block any attempts made to move forward and create a more progressive and inclusive environment on Eureka’s campus and across the Rockwood District.
I believe the parents and students of Rockwood deserve to know the truth behind the people running for positions of power, and they deserve to have a platform to voice their concerns and express their preferences. In my opinion, the last thing we need at Eureka is someone willing to disgrace and shame LGBT+ people, sympathize with a racist domestic terrorist group, and deface and insult innocent victims of police brutality like Breonna Taylor. That behavior is unacceptable on so many levels and is in no way an example we should be setting for students to follow. We cannot allow someone with such close-minded, ignorant, hateful views to hold any power in a space that is supposed to provide students with a safe and enjoyable space to learn, grow, and find our voices. I urge students to consult their parents about who they will be voting for in the upcoming election on April 6th and look into the backgrounds and values of the current nominees. We have the power to shape our own future and change the course of this school’s history, so long as we speak up and make our voices heard.
Tamarah Wagner
I, Tamarah Wagner, candidate for Rockwood Board of Education, want to clear up a misrepresentation of my positions by the Eureka High School Bugle. As is customary, each of Rockwood’s high school newspapers submitted questions to me shortly after I announced my candidacy. All the high school papers, with the exception of the Bugle, published the questions and answers as stated. The Bugle took the liberty to selectively edit my responses to misrepresent my answers. In the February article regarding the candidates for Rockwood School Board you stated that my main concern is that the current curriculum of Rockwood is “sensationalized propaganda and unverified information”; this statement is false. The writer asked me the biggest challenges facing the Rockwood community, not what my personal concerns were. If you equate biggest challenge to my concerns, my answer stated “the digital, media driven world presents unique challenges to parents and educators. The discernment of facts has become extremely challenging and we must get back to teaching and learning time-tested mathematics, historically verified information, spelling and ethics. We must resist teaching sensationalized propaganda and unverified information”. My point is that digital media is pushing the propaganda not the curriculum. I asked that the editor revise the article because I did not want to be misrepresented to the Rockwood community but you refused. Finally, I want to make my view on racism crystal clear. I denounce racism in the strongest way possible. It has no place in our schools or society. It is not racist to disbelieve someone who’s telling lies.
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EG • Jun 13, 2022 at 3:57 PM
She denounces racism, yet her loser son is a white supremacist and proud boys member. She must be so proud of her parenting skills.
RB • Mar 29, 2021 at 8:13 PM
Educate your neighbors, and don’t let this wack job on the board. She also believes the election was stolen.
Stephanie Werton • Mar 28, 2021 at 9:38 AM
Many other candidates are not for the parents or the kid’s voices. Change Is good. Vote for Desloge and Wagner if you want parent and student voices to be heard.
#5FullDays #LetThemPlay
Deb Michaels • Mar 28, 2021 at 3:25 AM
It appears readers may think Wagner’s rebuttal is to the letter to the editor, as you can see them on the same page. It is not. It is to the first article done by the school. So, there is no response to the letter. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. We all have the right to complete information when forming an opinion.
I spoke to Tamarah Wagner by phone prior to this letter coming out. (Because I wanted to ask questions after so many hateful accusations. I have never met her in person.) We discussed screen shots (two in particular) and Tamarah was very clear that yes those were her words (disgusting human being), but, the screen shot didn’t have on it what she was replying to. It is characterized above as calling “someone” that, but it wasn’t a person like you or me. It was a public official. Specifically, the President of Ohio State University, for a statement viewed as polarizing by many on social media regarding her opinion on the Breonna Taylor case. Tamarah told me she found the statement to be inaccurate (it does contradict other available information) and divisive. The divisive nature is what made Tamarah write those words. The screen shot (and the description above in the letter) makes it sound like Tamarah instead said those words as response to someone wanting an anti-racist world.
The phrasing in the letter that references sympathizing with a domestic terrorist group appears to be about a screen shot in which Tamarah asks why Proud Boys should be denounced as white supremacist when one of their leaders is black. To me, she said she does not subscribe to the Proud Boys message and called it misogynistic. That’s not what I would call sympathizing with that group. In a bit of irony among these racist accusations, Tamarah is, herself, a card carrying Cherokee Native American.
I’m quite sure people reading the letter above have seen wording that is far more shocking on social media from half the country expressing their views on current and past presidents and current events. Regarding the screen shots we discussed, Tamarah stated: “Was it eloquent? No. Do I regret it? No.”
Personally, Tamarah Wagner has my vote. She is a mom of 8 kids and 6 are currently in all 3 levels of school in the district. Currently, the majority of our school board (4 out of 7) does not have school aged kids. Their kids are grown and gone. They have no current, first hand parent perspective. No experience dealing with the effects of their own decisions, i.e. challenges parents faced with virtual school, juggling schedules, the canvas platform. Their decisions had no mental health effects on their own kids.
I thank the members of the board for all the great things they’ve done, and, the time and energy they have given. School is very different now, and the majority of the board should be made up of parents of school aged kids.
CeCe Rhodes • Mar 26, 2021 at 9:31 PM
Tamarah-
Your comment on this post is not enough. As a Black student who goes to EHS, your tweets are very insensitive. My thing is that everyone knows “once it is online, it can never be deleted”. You are trying to run for being on the Rockwood School Board. Your tweets has affected me and my views of you. You said what you said. Point. Blank. Period. There is no if, ands, or, buts. After saying homophobic and racist comments and have been attacking this student publication shows the maturity that you have. I deeply suggest that Rockwood should look at this a review if your even the right fit to represent
Laura Burkhardt • Mar 26, 2021 at 6:59 PM
Thank you, Morgan, for this article. It takes an immeasurable amount of courage to speak out. I saw Tamarah Wagner’s tweets before she deleted her Twitter account. They were horrendous. Children and young adults need to have space to be who they are, and us adults need to welcome them with open arms. The tweets proved that Mrs. Wagner would be incapable of accepting and welcoming ALL students. This divisiveness has no place on our School Board or anywhere in our district for that matter. Thank you for speaking out.
Angela Murnin • Mar 26, 2021 at 5:26 PM
Ms. Brown:
First off, thank you for speaking up! I can only imagine the courage and confidence that you must have at such a long age. This will take you far in life!
And thank you for speaking out against the gas lighting that is currently underway in our, usually, wonderful school district! First, her “supporters” denied that the posts were hers. They claimed that the opposition “doctored them”, even though they were right under her name with the date they were posted. Now, she claims them, but tries to make excuses for them. These posts are disgusting and those supporting her have been seen making similar comments on similar types of posts over the months. There is no place in our district for racism and an “us/them” mentality. They HATE people who don’t think and look like them – how in the world would someone representing “that” also represent ALL of our students?
Rockwood School District requires the best we have in our community – not a bottom-dweller who preys on fear and insecurities. We need to emerge from this pandemic BETTER than we were before; Ms. Wagner and her supporters just want to keep yelling about virtual Fridays and concurrent teaching and all of the things that the ENTIRE country had to deal with all year. We were a leader in returning to sports, returning to in-person school and STAYING in in-person school! We only need to look forward and do even better for our students.
Last, traditionally the board of education is completely apolitical. Neither of the incumbents have ever shed a light on who they vote for or which way they “lean”. They are public servants here to guide our district. Ms. Wagner makes it clear that she wants you to vote for her because she is a conservative. Perhaps she should look into running for a local county council position or state representative, where your political party matters. Please leave our school district OUT of politics!
Suzanne Rainey • Mar 26, 2021 at 5:24 PM
Well done and well-written, Morgan! I congratulate you on your thinking and your argument. I have another concern about that candidate: she didn’t even send all of her children to Rockwood schools. Why would she want to serve on the school board? It makes no sense to me. Keep writing, young woman! You are going places!
Carmen Garcia • Mar 26, 2021 at 3:26 PM
Thank you! Gracias Ms. Brown! Thank you for speaking up. Speaking out. Ensuring that the truth is told about such individuals that would do more harm than good for the entire Rockwood student population. As a Latinx who grew up in Fenton and graduated from Eureka, I can say that while bullying and racism have been around for a long while it isn’t until most recently that we have truly looked in the face of evil. We see who you are for what you are now. And there is no hiding.
I too have seen the social media posts you speak of and was thoroughly disgusted. And, when anyone has commented, asked for clarification, or pushed back on what was seen, heard, or said that person is immediately targeted as a liar, misinformed, or completely blocked from whatever social media page or platform they were on. What level of maturity is that teaching our children? How is that a responsible public servant?
We need better for our district. We need better for our students. We need better for our community. And that certainly is not Tamarah Wagner.
Marta Allred • Mar 26, 2021 at 3:08 PM
Thanks Morgan for creating awareness and speaking the truth. Your letter confirms other information I have heard and read about Mrs. Wagner and it sounds like she is not the type of person we want on our school board.
Olese • Mar 26, 2021 at 2:43 PM
Thank you Morgan. That is pertinent information regarding someone who is to represent Rockwood. I disagree with her tactics of trying to get someone fired for their opinion.
Rockwood really needs to think about this, for future issues.
Julia Greco • Mar 26, 2021 at 10:46 AM
Thank you for sounding the alarm about this candidate, Morgan! I bet folks would be interested to know that Ms. Wagner has called the employers of citizens that posted about her views, including Rockwood teachers and staff. This doesn’t sound like the temperament of a public servant to me. I hope Rockwood voters will put their support elsewhere.
Matt Wind • Mar 26, 2021 at 10:30 AM
People are right to be concerned about Tamarah Wagner and her fanatical supporters. For publicly posting and questioning Mrs. Wagner about her tweets suggesting she’d send her children to our schools in 2020 wearing non-functional mesh masks, I was attacked. Tamarah Wagoner and her supporters who are outspoken against “cancel culture,” tried to do exactly that to me. I person very close to Tamarah Wagoner and her campaign sent a libelous email to my employer trying to get me fired. It could have cost my livelihood and the livelihoods of my children because I had the audacity to question her public comments. Tamarah Wagoner is unfit for school board because she doesn’t take student, teacher, or staff health seriously. Tamarah Wagoner is unfit for school board because her and her supporters unethical actions. Tamarah Wagoner is unfit for school board because this behavoir will cost the Rockwood school district dearly in legal costs.
G Madigan • Mar 26, 2021 at 10:19 AM
I noticed in Wagner’s rebuttal statement she says nothing about regretting her statements regarding LGBT individuals, just denouncing racism. Interesting.
Bethre Means • Mar 26, 2021 at 9:44 AM
Did you post those tweets?
Dawn • Mar 25, 2021 at 5:43 PM
Thank you Morgan for speaking up and raising awareness. We want to provide a loving space safe for ALL of our students to reach their potential.
Dawn • Mar 25, 2021 at 5:41 PM
Thank you for speaking up and raising awareness. We want to provide a loving space safe for ALL of our students to reach their potential.