Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila Jr. has publicly called for the removal of Jessie Thompson as Chair of the Volusia School Board following comments Thompson made about students at Deltona High School. Thompson characterized some of the school's students as being inherently untrustworthy, saying she "wouldn't trust filling up my tank of gas" and questioned whether they deserved to graduate.
Thompson was speaking in Washington D.C. at an event hosted by Moms for Liberty, a conservative activist group founded initially to oppose school mask and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have one high school - and I don't want to take anything away from students or parents - and it is a Title One school so high-five for doing this...they had a 100% graduation rate last year," Thompson said. "Now I've walked that school multiple times, I've met some bright students and I've met some students that I wouldn't trust filling up my tank of gas. So I find it really hard to believe that they graduated, and graduation has now turned into basically just handing out participation ribbons."
Many in the community took exception to Thompson's negative characterization of some of the students at Deltona High School, saying it was unbecoming of a School Board member, much less Chair, to demean students within their own county. One of these community members was the mayor of the city Thompson was referring to.
"I am deeply appalled by the recent disparaging remarks made by Volusia County School Board Chair Jessie Thompson about the students of Deltona High School," Mayor Santiago Avlia Jr. said. "Her offensive comments, including the suggestion she 'wouldn’t trust some students to fill up her gas tank,' are unacceptable and is also an insult to the hard-working students and staff of this A-rated school."
He then called on Deltona residents to contact Thompson asking for an apology, and to ask their county's other School Board members to take action toward removing her as Chair. "Our students and educators deserve leaders who uplift and respect them," he continued. "Together, let’s demand better!" He also criticized her reference to School Board colleague Ruben Colón as a 'tan gentleman', a remark which has been taken as racially insensitive.
