Every once in a while, Shasta County District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones accidentally says something profound, even if it’s sandwiched between prodigious prevarications. Such was the case at the July 23 Board of Supervisors meeting when Jones voted a “hard no” on approving Benjamin Nowain for the Shasta County Elections Commission.
Hapless District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman picked Nowain for the commission after his previous selection, local progressive activist Nathan Pinkney, was turned down by the board’s MAGA majority, consisting of Jones, District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye and District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom.
Jones, perhaps confusing Nowain for Pinkney, the latter of whom once rightly called for the dissolution of the supervisor’s bogus elections commission, explained his “no” vote thusly:
“We don’t pick Shasta County planning commissioners that don’t think the planning commission should even exist,” Jones said. “We don’t do that and we’re not going to do it this time.”
As usual, prickly Patrick was lying. Nowain never said the elections commission shouldn’t exist. (Full disclosure: Nowain works for the county and is the host of the North State Breakdown internet newscast carried by A News Café.)
Lame duck District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones.
In fact, Jones might as well have been talking about himself. For the past two years he’s led a MAGA board majority that has dismantled Shasta County government at every turn. County employees have been leaving in droves—Director of Resource Management Paul Heller is the latest in a long stream of departing administrators.
In the March primary election, District 4 voters responded to the ongoing carnage and sent Jones packing, granting moderate newcomer Matt Plummer with a double-digit victory over lame duck Jones, who exits the board at the end of the year.
“We don’t pick Shasta County supervisors who don’t think county government should even exist,” District 4 voters might have said. “And by the way, don’t let the door hit you in the backside on the way out.”
Which just goes to show Shasta County voters can be a lot smarter than they’re often given credit for.
Now, as the Nov. 5 general election approaches, Shasta County voters face similar decisions in the races to fill four open seats on the Shasta County Board of Education.
Four MAGA candidates are contending for Board of Education positions; some of their names will be familiar to A News Café Readers: Moms for Liberty endorsed Anderson Union High School District board president Jackie LaBarbera, fascist provocateur Rich Gallardo, frequent BOS public speaker Teresa Roberts and Michele Tyson, who ran for a seat on the troubled Shasta County Republican Central Committee last March and lost.
If all four candidates win, they would join Christian Nationalist frontman Authur Gorman to form a 5-2 MAGA majority on the Board of Education. If that happens, you can literally kiss Shasta County public education goodbye.
Fortunately, there are four candidates running for the Board of Education who actually believe in building public schools up rather than burning them down.
Well known community activist Jessica French is the Regional Director of American Cultural Exchange, which brings foreign exchange students from around the world to Shasta County. Incumbent Amy Cavalleri is a nonprofit consultant who has extensive experience working with at-risk students. Incumbent Cindy Vogt has decades of experience working with at-risk youth. Simpson College adjunct professor Michael Orlicky has nearly 20 years of experience working in public education.
Let’s cut to the chase for a moment: A News Café is endorsing all four of these candidates for the Shasta County Board of Education. To find out why, keep reading.
Shasta County Office of Education: The Lay of the Land
The seven-member Shasta County Board of Education oversees the Shasta County Office of Education, better known as SCOE. Headed by Superintendent of Schools Mike Freeman, SCOE’s 400 employees provide support and services for the county’s 25 school districts, including financial oversight, accounting and payroll services, technology, professional development, credentialing, curriculum instruction and employee recruitment.
SCOE also serves as the liaison between the county and state and federal governments, ensuring local administrators and educators are informed about changes in laws, programs and grant opportunities, the latter of which are vital for the survival of many of the county’s cash-strapped school districts.
In addition, SCOE offers direct services for more than a hundred students via childhood programs, special education, alternative education for at-risk students, after school programs and independent study.
SCOE does not govern the county’s 25 school districts, each of which has its own independent superintendent and school board.
For voting purposes SCOE divides the county into two areas based on the location of elementary schools.
Area 1, denotated by yellow in the map above, is comprised of elementary school districts centered around the city of Redding, including Enterprise Elementary, Grant Elementary, Redding Elementary and Shasta Union Elementary.
Michael Orlicky and Michele Tyson are vying for the open Area 1 seat. A News Café is endorsing Orlicky for the position.
Area 2 is comprised of elementary schools in Anderson, Shasta Lake and the county’s vast rural area. It includes Bella Vista Elementary, Butte Union Elementary, Cascade Union Elementary, Castle Rock Union Elementary, Columbia Elementary, Cottonwood Union Elementary, Fall River Joint Unified, French Gulch-Whiskeytown Elementary, Gateway Unified, Happy Valley Union Elementary, Igo-Ono-Platina Union Elementary, Junction Elementary, Millville Elementary, Mountain Union Elementary, North Cow Creek Elementary, Oak Run Elementary, Pacheco Union Elementary and Whitmore Elementary.
Three board seats are up for grabs in Area 2. Incumbent Cindy Vogt and Teresa Roberts are competing for a 2-year board position; A News Café is endorsing Vogt. There are two, 4-year board seats being contested by Jessica French, incumbent Amy Cavalleri, Jackie LaBarbera, Rich Gallardo, Dolores Lucero and Don Aust. A News Café is endorsing French and Cavalleri.
Voters with school-aged children are more likely to be aware of which SCOE district they’re in; voters without children are encouraged to examine the map above to determine which area they’re in. The upcoming election is too important to leave to guesswork when marking your ballot this November.
AUHSD board president Jackie LaBarbera is endorsed by Moms for Liberty.
MAGA and the Moms for Liberty Connection
To paraphrase Patrick Jones, voters don’t generally choose school board candidates who advocate for the destruction of public schools. But that’s exactly what voters got when they selected Jackie LaBarbera for the Anderson Union High School Board of Trustees in 2022.
LaBarbera belongs to the wave of school board candidates who ran for office under the Moms for Liberty banner in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moms for Liberty is the Florida-based parental rights group that first gained national notoriety for its book-banning campaign and its assault on the LGBTQ community.
Moms for Liberty is funded in part by the Heritage Foundation, the ultraconservative think-tank behind Project 2025, a plan that calls for replacing thousands of federal government employees with Trump loyalists. It also calls for the abolition of federal institutions such as the Department of Education if the former president is elected in November. The foundation supports “school choice” and the increased use of vouchers which if unchecked will destroy public education as we know it, as the wealthy place their children in private religious schools and leave the poor behind.
While LaBarbera has denied she’s a member of Moms for Liberty since the Southern Poverty Law Center branded it as an anti-government and anti-LGBTQ extremist movement last year, she has vigorously pursued the Moms for Liberty agenda since taking office. She’s been bolstered by the conservative AUHSD Board of Trustees, which has twice passed “forced outing” policies that contrary to state law require administrators, teachers and staff to inform parents or guardians if a student identifies as transgender without the student’s permission.
Shaye Stephens, English teacher and president of the AUHSD California Teachers Association.
That didn’t sit right with Shaye Stephens, an English teacher, LGBTQ advocate and president of the AUHSD California Teachers Association.
“LaBarbera solicited bigots to come to a board meeting regarding LBTQ rights where she wanted to put in policies that discriminate against them,” Stephens said. “She is harmful to students and public education as a whole. She has made it clear, time and time again, that her loyalty is to the Moms for Liberty cause and not for the plight of public education students and families.”
Full disclosure: This writer served as a long-term substitute for Stephens at North Valley High School last semester and witnessed first-hand the chaos LaBarbera’s policies have wreaked on administrators, teachers and staff.
This became readily apparent in May after LaBarbera’s failed attempt to pass a policy requiring every grant to be reviewed by the board before being approved, a measure that would have drastically curtailed the district’s funding if passed. LaBarbera’s beef? The SCOE grant in question required adherence to the state education code.
For some AUHSD administrators, teachers and employees that was the last straw.
“We lost our CBO of 20-plus years, our Superintendent’s secretary, two site principals, a counselor, and a community connect coordinator who all expressed the stress they felt under LaBarbera’s leadership,” Shaye said “She’s a bully.”
Now LaBarbera is running for a four-year seat on the Shasta County Board of Education. She did not return A News Café’s inquiries.
“The elected position of a School Board Trustee is one best carried out in humility and servant leadership to the community it serves,” LaBarbera claims in her candidate statement. “Political ideology, misguided social pressure, and special interest monies should not influence a School Board’s decisions.”
As the saying goes with MAGA politicians, every accusation is a confession, a case of psychological projection. LaBarbera’s tenure on the AUHSD board, where she now sits as president, has been marked by a profound lack of humility and borderline narcissistic tendencies. Consider this recent Facebook post regarding the exodus of AUHSD employees:
Facebook post by AUHSD president Jackie LaBarbera denigrating district employees.
“Oversight in public education drives integrity, transparency, competition, and increased academic outcomes,” LaBarbera said. “Those who can’t handle it will leave for greener pastures with no oversight. Watch ’em scatter.”
Or this defense of her arrogant attitude:
“I wasn’t elected to make friends,” she posted. “Public Education needs oversight by We the People, a fresh perspective, and a little competition. They can hate me for that all they want, it doesn’t phase (sic) me.”
Or this badly reasoned paragraph:
“I’m not intimidating, you’re intimidated. There’s a difference. I’m not mean or aggressive I am honest and assertive and that makes you uncomfortable. And it’s not ME that makes you uncomfortable, my PRESENCE challenges your comfort. I will not be less for you to feel better about yourself.”
Clearly this is not a person cut out for public service, particularly on the Shasta County Board of Education, which oversees a diverse student body.
Shasta County Board of Education Area 2 candidate Jessica French.
Shasta County Board of Education Area 2 candidate Jessica French is LaBarbera’s polar opposite.
“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to run for the Shasta County Office of Education, particularly in light of my opponent,” French told A News Cafe. “Her affiliation with Moms for Liberty and her actions on the Anderson Union High School District Board—where she sought to cut funding for crucial programs serving our most vulnerable students and opposed support for social-emotional learning—are deeply troubling.”
“Her track record suggests a clear agenda that undermines essential support and resources for our schools,” French continued. “It is imperative that we prevent her from extending this divisive and detrimental approach to the County Office of Education. We need leadership that champions inclusive, comprehensive education rather than pursuing politically motivated agendas that harm our students and their well-being.”
As Regional Director of American Cultural Exchange, French leads a diverse team of 13 staff members across the United States, engaging with individuals from 52 countries. She also has a child who receives special education services for whom she’s been advocating since kindergarten, sitting for hours on committees to make sure the needs of special education students are met.
“I am running for the Shasta County Board of Education Trustee position for Area 2 because I am passionate about supporting and enhancing public education in our community,” French explains in her candidate statement. “My background equips me with a unique perspective and a deep understanding of both the challenges and opportunities within our educational system.”
A News Café highly recommends French for one of the two 4-year Area 2 Board of Education seats.
Board of Education Area 2 candidate Rich Gallardo.
The Problem with Rich Gallardo
At this late date, A News Café readers are perhaps too familiar with the bizarre and sometimes frightening antics of self-proclaimed citizen journalist Rich Gallardo. Gallardo, who was dismissed from his Cal Fire job in 2017 for brandishing a handgun at work, attempted to arrest the entire Shasta County Board of Supervisors in 2020 for following the state’s COVID-19 mandates.
With his Shasta County Community Journalist cohort Lori Bridgeford, Gallardo spent much of the pandemic hassling people waiting in line for vaccinations.
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- Lori Bridgeford and Eric Gallardo (Richard’s twin) pose as “press” while they harass vaccine clinic visitors.
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- Lori Bridgeford shows a badge to prove she’s a journalist.
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- Richard Gallardo is led from the board chambers by deputies after he attempted a citizen’s arrest of the entire board.
Gallardo’s a frequent public speaker at BOS and school board meetings, where he spreads disinformation and humiliates LGBTQ students while bragging he’s the smartest person in the room. He’s terrorized Steve King, an outspoken and occasionally eccentric senior citizen, paying a unannounced late night visit to King’s trailer.
Richard Gallardo is accused of terrorizing Redding resident Steven King from outside King’s trailer.
Most recently Gallardo pepper sprayed local activist Nathan Pinkney after Pinkney objected to Gallardo taking photographs of his license plate. The Redding Police Department were called to the scene and removed a handgun from Gallardo’s possession. Pinkney, who had just served Gallardo with a restraining order in the Shasta County Elections Office, alleges Gallardo was illegally carrying the concealed weapon in a public building in violation of state law.
Richard Gallardo sits in the Elections Office with a visible outline on his waistband that, according to him, would have absolutely nothing to do with a firearm that was pulled off him shortly afterward by the Redding Police Department.
No charges were filed against Gallardo.
The certified gun nut and militia member nearly snuck onto the board in 2022 before the general public became aware of his abhorrent behavior. Now he’s running for one of the two four-year Area 2 Board of Education seats.
Rich Gallardo is escorted out of building by deputies after he attempted to arrest the board of supervisors and key staff members.
This is a man with no filter. At a recent AUHSD board meeting Gallardo, whose son attends Anderson High School, declared “woke” school administrators and teachers would soon be offering “abortions in the backroom of the cafeteria.” In concert with board president LaBarbera, Gallardo has advocated removing all mental health counseling from the district so students can focus on the Three Rs.
“We must stop the nonsense of allowing the kids to call themselves victims and instead teach them responsibility for their actions,” Gallardo says in his candidate statement. “The schools have been turned into mental health institutions and social experimentation centers instead of actually focusing on learning the basics of reading, writing, and math.”
To paraphrase Patrick Jones once again, why choose someone for the Board of Education who has vowed to destroy the Board of Education on his campaign website?
“Stay tuned for some updated information as to how SCOE has continued to pour $$ into expanded programs, bloated staff and administrators, land, buildings where LITTLE actually helps the kids and their quality of education,” claims Gallardo. “The current Board continues to spend money artificially created by the Federal Reserve which only accelerates the hyperinflation we are experiencing.”
When it comes to public education in Shasta County, this is a dangerous man.
A News Café endorses Shasta Board of Education incumbent Amy Cavalleri.
Normal Versus MAGA
With the November election just 80 days away, the Moms for Liberty parental rights movement has now fully fused with Christian Nationalism and Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. MAGA candidates almost universally propose to mold public education into their own narrowminded version of Christianity, exactly in line with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
In one sense that makes it easier for voters. If you don’t support the destruction of public education as we know it, vote against MAGA candidates.
That’s why A News Café is endorsing incumbent Amy Cavalleri for the second open four-year Board of Education seat. Like Jessica French, the nonprofit consultant has the type of resume you typically find in school board trustees. She’s worked with a variety of organizations in the community dealing with issues such as homelessness, healthcare for the underserved, early literacy and student success.
“I have a deep appreciation for the creative collaboration that thrives in rural spaces, and a strong commitment to removing barriers and ensuring our local students graduate with a competitive advantage in the workplace,” says Cavalleri in her campaign statement. “As a mom of two children enrolled in our local public schools, I am honored to represent the parent voice on the Board.”
In the race for the Board of Education’s 2-year Area 2 trustee position, incumbent Cindy Vogt brings a formidable skillset to the table. For 12 years, she served as case manager for the California Heritage YouthBuild Academy working with students who failed to succeed in traditional high school. For 10 years she was commissioner of the First 5 Shasta Commission, focusing on early childhood literacy programs. For 8 years she served at commissioner of the Juvenile Justice Commission, working with incarcerated youth and youth on probation.
“These experiences have given me the perspective and knowledge to provide oversight for SCOE’s programs, serving our youngest students and those students that are the most vulnerable,” Vogt explains in her candidate statement. “They’ve also provided the expertise to monitor and evaluate the budget and planning of the Office of Education.”
A News Café endorses incumbent Cindy Vogt for the 2-year Shasta County Board of Education Area 2 seat.
Homemaker/business owner Teresa Roberts is also listed as a candidate for the 2-year Area 2 trustee position. Presumably this is the same Teresa Roberts who’s a frequent speaker at BOS meetings, most noted for her MAGA ruminations saturated with Christianity and her heckling of other speakers from the audience. However, while the mother of six claims decades of experience working with troubled youth, her candidate statement is vague, names no organizations she’s worked for and provides no contact information. Without more information, it’s impossible to comment on her candidacy at this time.
Squaring off for the single Shasta County Board of Education Area 1 trustee seat are substitute paraprofessional Michele Tyson and Simpson College adjunct professor Michael Orlicky.
Like Roberts, Tyson’s candidate statement is somewhat vague. The mother of four claims “the changes you hear about nationally are also happening in Shasta County,” but fails to mention what those changes are. “Schools should be free from biases to allow students to think for themselves and form their opinions,” Tyson asserts but again doesn’t name what those biases are. Without reading between lines, it’s difficult to determine whether she’s MAGA or not.
Luckily her Facebook page provides the answer.
Yep, she’s MAGA.
A News Café is endorsing Michael Orlicky for the Area 1 Board of Education seat.
Therefore, A News Café is endorsing Michael Orlicky for the Area 1 Board of Education seat.
“My focus will be on reading, writing and math, as well as helping to stem the flood of vaping in our local schools,” Orlicky says in his candidate statement. “I have worked in both private and public education since 2005. My focus has always been on what is best for the students, teachers, and families in whichever school I was working.”
Contacted by A News Café, Orlicky said, “I am running because I want to be an advocate for students and teachers. I am passionate about literacy and STEM education. I want to be a partner with local schools, students, teachers and parents to help keep our schools safe learning environments for all students.”
And there you have it, A News Café’s endorsements for the four openings on the Shasta County Board of Education. To recap, A News Café endorses incumbent Amy Cavalleri and Jessica French for the two four-year Area 2 openings; incumbent Cindy Vogt for the two-year Area 2 seat and Michael Orlicky for the Area 1 position.
Ultimately the choice is up to Shasta County’s voters. They can vote for the normal candidates endorsed by A News Café who are genuinely interested in improving our schools, or they can vote for the MAGA candidates who want to burn it all down.
It’s not a hard decision.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story inadvertently omitted Don Aust from the list of Area 2 candidates. We regret any confusion caused by the error. The story has been corrected to include Aust’s name.
