Teacher’s TikTok leads to mixed feelings at school board meeting

Talawanda School Board meetings usually have a public comment section that is capped at 30 minutes, with each participant allotted three minutes to speak. However, Thursday night’s public comment lasted almost an hour.

On Nov. 7, Talawanda High School teacher Danielle Mann posted a public TikTok filmed in her classroom in which she talked about her feelings about the election. She called for men who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris to identify themselves publicly as a Democrat by wearing blue.

“The women need to see your faces and see your names because we are in danger,” Mann said in her TikTok.

This post sparked comments on social media, with angry parents posting to Facebook groups about Mann’s words.

Art Sauerwein started the Facebook group “Citizens for Our Children” in response to the TikTok. The group has more than 400 members after only being up for a week.

Members of the group planned to attend Thursday night’s meeting and speak during the public comment section to voice their displeasure with Mann’s post.

The meeting started as usual at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Talawanda High School. The board went through routine presentations, talking about future budgets, student athletic achievement and new policy changes.

The auditorium sat patiently, with a group of about 40 teachers, students, parents and concerned citizens listening in. The Citizens for Our Children sat in front, wearing matching yellow shirts that sported the group’s name and a picture of the state of Ohio.

After almost 2 hours of presentations, public comment began at 8:38 p.m., with board President Rebecca Howard commenting on the length of the sign-up sheet.

Participants were called from the crowd to speak, starting with teacher Matt Likins. Likins spoke of his gratitude for Talawanda teachers.

“I am so grateful as to how our teachers step up to support each other,” Likins said.

One by one, teachers were called to the stand, each of them almost exactly meeting the allotted three minutes.

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Molly Todd, a Talawanda Middle School teacher and Oxford resident, talked about her pride in the accomplishments of Talawanda School District students and staff.

Ten teachers spoke about their classes and coworkers, and 31 minutes later, at 9:09 p.m., the first concerned parent spoke. Scotty King, a parent who sat separate from Citizens for Our Children, said he was upset by the video.

“There should be no politics in school,” King said.

Next, Mike Sekach called for teacher accountability.

“I don’t think I need to explain to this board basically the influence that a teacher has over a child,” Seacatch said. He also voiced concern for retaliation from the school board.

Sauerwien spoke next. As leader of Citizens for Our Children, he called out Mann’s video and said she should be held to a higher standard of accountability.

“Then along came the classroom video of Danielle Mann having a meltdown over safe spaces asking people to wear blue bracelets,” Sauerwien said. “All this in a desperate, erratic mental state she was trying to identify men and their addresses, which would lead me to be scared of her capabilities.”

After other comments from the public, Tom Ramano, a retired Miami University faculty member expressed support for Mann.

“She expressed deep concern for the safety of girls and women,” Romano said. “She gave an opinion, which the Talawanda School Board recognizes as a constitutional right.”

This was met with quiet boos from Citizens for Our Children.

Shortly after public comment ended, and although the meeting wasn’t over, the auditorium cleared out.

rothra2@miaimoh.edu