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ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — The Berrien County Election Commission unanimously rejected the recall petition attempt against three conservative members of the Brandywine School Board on Monday afternoon. The petitions, which were written by former Brandywine Superintendent John Jarpe (PhD), were mainly rejected because of a host of grammatical issues. While RNM attended the meeting, recording inside of the room was not allowed. The following information comes from notes taken by RNM during the hearing.
According to Michigan law, a recall petition can move forward for any reason regardless of the legality of an action, the wording on the petition simply needs to be factual, accurate and clear. To be clear, the board members did NOT break the law or rules and procedures — and the recall petition does not accuse them of such. Essentially, the members could face a recall for something as routine as approving meeting minutes, approving an agenda or taking a bathroom break. Monday’s meeting was what is called a “Clarity Hearing” to determine if the language was factual, accurate and not confusing.
Jarpe hand-wrote nine different petitions, one for each school board member (Elaine McKee, Michelanne McCombs and Thomas Payne) in each of the three townships (Milton, Niles and Bertrand). Each petition had strange grammatical errors with misplaced commas, out of place capital letters and incorrect words, all of which ended in the petitions being rejected. The one consistent theme in all of the petitions that caused them to be tossed was the beginning verbiage which would have stated “We, the undersigned and registered voters… petition for the calling of an election to recall… for the following reason(s): For a Board meeting on 1-23-2023, The following minutes state…” A copy of one of the petitions can be seen below.
All three of the Berrien County Election Commission members agreed that the wording on the petitions would be confusing to some, leading them to question if the School Board Members are being recalled for the meeting or for an action taken at the meeting.
Petitions to recall another conservative member of the School Board, Angela Seastrom, were pulled prior to the meeting. Seastrom is in the process of moving out of state and submitted her resignation letter last week, prior to the petitions being filed.
If Jarpe wishes to continue the process, he would have to draft new recall petitions and go through another Clarity Hearing to seek approval.
JOHN JARPE AND THE ANTIFA ALIGNED ACTIVISTS
Jarpe, who filed the petition, has been working with left-wing activists to oust the conservative members of the board since before they even took office in January of 2023. He and several teachers/activists have been vocal in their opposition to the board specifically their efforts working to remove sexually explicit material from school libraries. Jarpe spoke on this particular issue at the board’s January 23rd, 2023 meeting.
Jarpe has been working particularly close with Brandywine English teacher Debra “Debbie” Carew and Ambrosia Neldon, the current Cass County Communications Manager. Both Neldon and Carew have attended nearly every board meeting to express their displeasure with the school board’s attempts to ensure kids aren’t being given full access to pornographic material. The activists went so far as to team up with a known violent member of Antifa to intimidate members of the board and media.
TONNA ROBINSON
That Antifa member, Tonna Robinson, is currently being investigated for assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury from an incident earlier this month where she and others viciously attacked a father and son outside of a drag show for kids in South Bend. Video of that attack can be seen here.
Jarpe, Neldon and Carew are all part of an online Facebook group called “Brandywine Alumni, Parents, and Educators for Educational Freedom.” The group has has been in contact with Tonna Robinson of Elkhart, Indiana, and her group of Antifa members for nearly a year.
Robinson and her self-identified group of Antifa members historically worked as what they called “Deathscorts” outside of the now closed Whole Woman’s Health abortion clinic in South Bend in which they would escort women into the facility to get abortions. One of the members was investigated for nearly running over a congresswoman with his car in 2021. That same member was investigated by the FBI for threats against a pro-life organization. Robinson also appears to be a member of the Satanic Temple.
RNM has been writing stories exposing local members of Antifa and the Satanic Temple, including Robinson, for the past several years. Since then, Robinson has relentlessly attacked RNM, its founder and his family.
“This just came across my feed. This is the ‘wonderful’ Clifton French from Real News Michiana. This is who our board president uses to ‘leak’ information!” One member of the group posted on the page. The post includes a link to a post made by Robinson attacking RNM’s Clifton French with false and libelous information.
“I love this Tonna! We need her!!!” Another member of the group responded.
English Teacher Debbie Carew then attempted to organize a boycott of a local business that rented space to an organization for an event in which French attended as a guest speaker.
Robinson has not been shy about her affiliation with the leftist paramilitary group. Her social media accounts claim she joined in Antifa riots, attacks Christians and consistently wishes harm on police officers.
In October of 2021, she took to Facebook to Cheer on the arson of a South Bend Police Department squad car.
In the post Robinson says “Hometown Hero” with a fire emoji next to it. Under her commentary is a release from SBPD regarding the arson. She alters the release to tell people to “shut the f*** up” if they have information regarding the crime.
What’s even more disturbing is the commentary under her post appearing to call for police to be killed.
“Damn. Nobody inside? I wanted more good cops.” A poster who goes by the name Natascha Hanson, said. This is a play on Antifa’s “only good cop is a dead cop” mantra. Robinson reacted to the post seeming to be displeased that no officer was killed in the arson.
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