In a transparent attempt to distract from at-large candidate Meg Scalia Bryce’s extreme right-wing agenda, a local conservative alleged in a recent column that APPL is spreading “smears” about her. But this column failed to specify any falsehoods, and for good reason – there are none. The information APPL has shared about Bryce is thoroughly fact-checked, accurate, and taken from reputable sources.
Here are the facts about Bryce that deeply concern the parents of APPL, and which we believe render her unfit to serve on the Albemarle County School Board:
- Per FEC records, Bryce donated money to Republicans in 2020, and she personally appeared with Donald Trump at the White House in 2019.
- According to VPAP, Bryce is supported by right-wing donors with a history of bigotry and attempted whitewashing of history.
- One of her largest local donors is Don Woodsmall, who paid for Islamophobic billboards.
- Similarly, Bryce accepted money from Ann McLean, a former Youngkin appointee who defended armed secession, praised pro-Confederate monuments, and compared Abraham Lincoln to Vladimir Putin.
- In a candidate forum last month, Bryce stated her opposition to ACPS’s antiracism policy and culturally responsive teaching, which help create an inclusive environment for our children. And at the NAACP candidate forum last week, Bryce claimed systemic racism is open for debate—despite the long history and current reality of institutional racism, which was recently confirmed by the Bellwether Report commissioned by ACPS.
- In Cville Tomorrow, Bryce opposed ACPS’s policy designed to protect transgender and non-binary students against bullying and discrimination.
- Bryce attended and publicly praised “each session” of a conference for conservative school board candidates hosted by the Noah Webster Education Foundation, a right-wing organization founded by a homeschooling activist who was in the mob on Capitol Hill on January 6. This conference had a session on removing books from school libraries.
- Bryce pulled her own children out of ACPS. In an appearance on the I Love Cville podcast, Bryce praised vouchers that would divert funds from public education to private schools like the ones her own children attend.
Bryce has tried to avoid, obfuscate, and deflect these facts, apparently because she believes they will be detrimental to her candidacy. We stand by the content on our website, which is created, authorized, and approved exclusively by APPL. The parents of APPL will not back down from continuing to share accurate information with Albemarle voters so they can make a fully informed choice in this important election.