The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Jim Dillenbeck, Rio District AlbCo School Board Candidate

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Jim Dillenbeck, Rio District AlbCo School Board Candidate What Does Dillenbeck Bring To The AlbCo School Board? What To Expect At School Board Meeting Tomorrow? Are Albemarle County Schools Unstable And Unsafe? Should HS Boys Be Allowed In Girls’ Bathrooms/Lockers? Should Allison Spillman Resign From The School Board? Is Superintendent Dr. Matthew Haas Doing A Good Job? If You Need CVille Office Space, Contact Jerry Miller Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jim Dillenbeck, Albemarle County School Board candidate for the Rio district, joined me live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Welcome to the I Love Seville Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on a Wednesday afternoon in downtown Charlottesville. Today's program is going to be a really good one. We're going to spend an hour with an Alamara County School Board candidate from the Ryo district that is looking to really help change the course and direction of a public school system that I think has lost its identity and is missing a North Star

or a Lighthouse of Direction. And why Almaro County Public Schools are missing a North Star or a lighthouse of direction or why they're searching for its soul and its identity, I'm just not sure of. Maybe it's shaky leadership from the superintendent, Dr. Matthew Haas.

Maybe it's the one-party domination of Al-Morrow County. on a school board that is certainly partisan in many different ways. Maybe it's you and me guys, folks of Albemarle County who've allowed the school system to be monopolized by school board members that don't have the, speaking frankly, the ability to see the force through the trees on a lot of things that are education and policy-related. I'm going to try to unpack that storyline today on the show with a guy that, I think, I think is a household name, certainly in education.

Jim Dillenbeck is in the house, and we'll spend an hour with him. We'll take your questions. I'm going to open it up to you, the viewer, and listener, to ask questions of a candidate. And, guys, I'm going to ask very pointed ones myself. I'm going to ask whether at-large member Allison Spillman should resign. I'm going to ask about this crazy inclusivity policy that allows teenage boys to enter the locker rooms and bathrooms of, of teenage girls at Western Amar High School to the point where girls are circulating a petition,

just begging for privacy again and asking parents to sign the petition. I'm going to talk about declining performance and data tied to SOLs and grades and absenteeism. I'm going to talk about metal detectors and school resource officers. A lot we're going to cover on today's show. Judah Wickhauer is behind the camera.

I would love to highlight some of the partners of the show. One partner in the Vermilion family, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. We were there this morning, and the Vermilions are phenomenal people, 61 consecutive years of business at Charlestville Sanitary Supply. Their business is three generations of family, and the Vermillion family is five generations in Amarro County. They're online at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply.com, and they're located on the high street.

Anything sanitary, vacuum, swimming pool, hot tub-related. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, ladies and gentlemen, is who you contact all right juda if we can go to the studio camera and then a two shot as we welcome jim you got a boatload of people watching and even more going to be watching uh at at their leisure after the show we start with the same question of every guest introduce yourself to the viewers and listeners that are watching the program yeah happy to and thanks for having me on the show i'm jim dylan beck i am a uva grad husband father of four and uh i tell friends who asked, why am I running for the school board that I fell and hit my head.

And when I woke up, came to realize that I had decided to be a part of the school board or try to be a part of the school board. I taught at Albemarle High School for seven years back in the 90s. When families from Charlottesville and surrounding counties would pay to have their kids come to Albemarle County Schools. The reverse is happening today. There are families in my district, in the Ryo District, that are sending their kids to Charlottesville schools and private schools because of what's happening in the schools. You're looking at one right now. So I hear that a ton. And part of the reason why I'm, I've decided to try to get elected to the board is to come to the

aid of the family's in my neighborhood. My next door neighbor has two kids that go to Woodbrook Elementary School, which is struggling mightily right now. And they need a voice speaking up on their behalf because apparently the current administration isn't hearing the pleas from teachers and students in the community. So I left teaching in 97 because I couldn't afford to stay in teaching, raising a family. At the time, we had three young kids. My wife was staying at home. Living in Charlestville and a teacher and coach's salary was just nearly impossible. So left there, went to work for what's now world strides for five years, and then transitioned after 9-11 into financial planning. And I've been helping, I've been teaching and coaching,

but just with couples and individuals instead of a classroom of teenagers. So I've been doing that for the last 24 years. So I think I have some experience both in the classroom and in business that is sorely needed on the board. Currently, there's one member of the school board that has classroom teaching experience that I'm aware of, and that's Graham Page, who's retiring at the end of this term. My opponent is a nice lady, but she has no teaching experience as far as I understand. We'll get to your opponent. We will get to Leslie prior. We'll get to what happened with Chuck Pace. We'll get to essentially a second crack at being on the school board for you. How about a state of the union from you first on Almore County Public

Schools right now? Yeah, I wish I had better news. I want to talk about three main topics. One is what I feel like is educational malpractice that's happening, especially at Woodbrook Elementary school. I can give you some statistics. They're pretty shocking. More than half of the students there at Woodbrook in the third grade are failing the reading and the math SOLs every year and have been for the last 10 years or more, even before COVID. Among students of color, 75% failed reading and the math and 97% of students last year at Woodbrook failed the science test. What's going on? Burley Middle School is a little bit better, but more than half of the students of color there failed the reading. 61% failed the math test. 67% failed the science test. And even at Al Marl High

School, where I used to teach, one third of the students of color can't pass the reading, test, and yet they graduate year after year after year. So this is, and in the meantime, your taxpayer dollars are funding $20,000 per student in Albemarle County right now. It's the $280 million budget. So the second thing that I've seen as I've been campaigning over the last year and a half is an exodus and an influx. There's an exodus of families who can afford to send their kids elsewhere from the county schools and an influx of families who in many cases don't speak English as their primary language. So the demographics have changed dramatically. This sounds like the gentrification of education to me. Exactly. Exactly. So what's happening

is we're having the economically disadvantaged families. The proportion of those students is on the rise. again, families who can afford to send their kids elsewhere are doing that. And I know that you've made that decision as well. And I don't blame you. And then the third topic is I did a FOIA request for salaries of central office administrators last week. And I have some figures that I can go into in more detail. It's pretty shocking. I'll just say this way.

the central office salaries total about $10 million and Dr. Haas and his five highest paid staff, these are assistant superintendents, got an average raise of 9.75% year over year. Year over year. Teachers in Albemarle County got a 3% year-over-year raise. To me, that's just completely insane. So I think we're top-heavy in this. County and I can tell you after having talked to dozens of teachers, they do not feel like their voice is being heard. And that is something that I plan to change. So we have a school system

that is underperforming from a test score standpoint. That's a key performance indicator we should follow. We have a school system that is bloated at the top from a payroll standpoint to the tune of 10 million. We have a school system that is embodying the phrase gentrification of education where the wealthy student, and maybe wealthy is even not the right word, the resourced family is choosing to jettison the school system for private schools and or homeschool and or Charlottesville public schools, which leaves a student body for Almore County public schools that is English as a second language in greater share. leaves the student body in Alamara County Public Schools that is struggling to keep up with grade curriculum

and is forcing Alamara County Public Schools to utilize social promotion to matriculate students through grades to maintain accredited it is what's the word accreditation yep and performance standards that's right that is an absolute recipe for for disaster yeah that has left Al Morrow County from my standpoint in its public school system, unstable and potentially unsafe and certainly unpredictable. Right. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's been comparisons recently, two friends of mine have drawn a comparison between Albemarle County and York County, Virginia, Tidewater, where similar demographics, Albemarle County has about 14,000 students, York County, 13 and change. similar demographics in terms of race and economically disadvantaged students.

And yet, so in York County, the average expense per student is 15,000, so 5,000 less than an albemarle. But the test score differential is 35 points among students of color. So York County is doing better with, less money than albemarle county by a lot and so people will ask me people who are concerned about their taxes and i just got a i think a 12% tax hike by the county you're talking on the house you own on the house i own yeah um so it's not in my opinion it's not a matter of we need to spend more money because when i was teaching back in the old days in the 90s when i was teaching

the county was spending $5,000 per student. Now, rate of inflation and all that, I get that. But we had much better results. So it's more a matter of how are those dollars being spent. I've been here 25 years, and the 25 years I've been here from first year at the University of Virginia to now married man and father of two. At the beginning of those 25 years, Almara County was the gold standard of education in the Commonwealth.

That's right. Literally the sterling example of what you were. wanted a school system to be in. And you can actually point to Crozay and Western Amaral Schools, Maryweather, actually can I say Maryweather anymore? I guess it's Ivy. It's Ivy. Murray, Brownsville, Brownsville, Crozay Elementary. The entire development of Crozay was tied to the incredible academic output of these schools. People sprinted to buy quarter acre lots and Old Trail and sprinted to develop Crozee. from country into my standpoint overpopulated

because of the output of schools Mary Weather, Murray, Henley, Brownsville, Crozay, Western. Now even those are facing some academic challenges and some social challenges, which we will get to. Here's the $68 million question, which if I think you had a clear-cut answer to, and maybe you do, you might also be a lottery winner here, but how the hell did we get to this point?

How did we get to this point where you go from gold standard to potentially bottom of the barrel in a generation? Yeah, you know, I don't know the answer to that, Jerry. I think it's a bit like the story of how do you boil a frog. You know, you turn the heat up and he doesn't realize it until it's too late. I think it's been a combination of things, and people will blame COVID. Yes, COVID played a part, but the decline. Klein started well before 2020.

This is my opinion, and I have to be careful a little bit about what I say, because if all goes well, I'm going to be sitting on the board in less than six months. But my perception is that Dr. Haas and the school board have paid more attention to education theory that was taught at Curry School at UVA. and elsewhere other parts of the country we wanted to be progressive and so we drank we being meaning the board drank that Kool-Aid and it has turned into what appears to be somewhat of an echo chamber I go to board meetings and normally I'm one of about five people that aren't on the payroll that are at the meetings that's going to be very different tomorrow night but the sense that I get is that they'll have public speakers, and I'm sure they're tired of hearing from me because I've spoken a dozen times. But it's almost like they're not tuned into the frequency. They like they like to hear each other talk and they share their ideas among themselves. But when a teacher from

the Western feeder pattern spoke two years ago, and there's a link on my website to, her three-minute speech to the board, warning, look, you as a board are not supporting teachers, and if you're not going to support teachers, you're going to have to step aside. That's one of the main reasons why I decided to throw my hat in the ring. So I think that there's been this focus on, you know, the PhDs, and let's try open classrooms. Pam Moran's idea from a few years ago, and you look at Woodbrook Elementary School where there are still some open classrooms, it is a disaster. Same thing has happened at Agner Elementary. So there have been the, and Kate Acuff herself said in the meeting, last

meeting, the high school center model, and now they're building a center two, does not work. It does nothing to alleviate the overcrowding at Albemar High School. When I was teaching there 30 years ago, I was in a trailer because it was overcrowded then. It's worse now. so I think it happened gradually like many things and if you've read the book good to great it's kind of what happened they the school system stopped hearing critical feedback and they started listening to each other speak and that's when they they sort of got off the path the the Matthew Haas and his lieutenants and this one party elected school board is punching drunk on their own politics and Kool-Aid, and they've been nothing but chugging their

own Kool-Aid and their own politics for a generation. And as a result, we've gotten to this point. I mentioned yesterday, my wife and I are paying nearly 25K to send our oldest to a private school, and goodness gracious, we'd love to have that 25K. Oh, yeah. But at the same time, it's our son. And we know we're going to have to do it when our youngest, who's soon to be three, goes to kindergarten, because we did it for our oldest, and we would have tremendous guilt.

if we didn't also do the same thing for our second kid because we love them equally. And at that point, when it's all said and done and they matriculate from kindergarten through senior year in high school and own half high school diplomas, we're all in with escalators somewhere between $800 and $900,000. Could buy a beach house for that. Could buy a beach house for that. And we're paying taxes that are funding the public school at the same time as well. Right.

Which is, I'm paying twice. Yeah. And there's a lot of us out there that are like that. There's this misconception that the private schools and the homeschools, these families are just Scrooge McDuck and rolling in money, and that's not the case. It is not the case. That's right.

We're just trying to do what is best for our children because there are hearts walking, walking outside of our body. Yeah. So I'm very in tune with what you're trying to do. I have to ask you a pointed question with Dr. Matthew Haas, the superintendent. In total compensation, I believe, right around a quarter million dollars in total compensation per year here, is Matthew Hoss earning, is the value proposition of Matthew Hoss's output, a quarter million dollars in taxpayer compensation?

It's actually a little more than that. His salary is 273,000. This is public information plus the benefits. So he's north of 300? North of 300. Okay. I have my personal opinions, and I think he's, he is absolutely dead. He is absolutely dedicated to what he sees as his mission to run the schools. But I think he's made some significant missteps. And I think he's not, from what others have told me,

he's not open to any sort of criticism about his plan. And again, I come back to. the families at schools like Woodbrook Elementary where most of those the majority of those students are not learning how to read, they're not getting the education that they are due in a public setting. And ultimately somebody has to

take responsibility for that. And that is on Dr. Haas, in my opinion. If I were in charge of this, I would do, as a naval officer, a friend of mine says, we need to create a tiger team. That is, when there's a military objective, you gather the best and brightest and say, we're going to attack this problem because it is a problem. I have a wife and a son in medical care. If they were a part of a medical clinic where more than half of the patients were dying,

not receiving, you know, good treatment, the clinic would be closed down. And so I think we need to ask the tough questions, what are you doing? And if the board continues on its current path, what's the definition of insanity? Same thing. Same thing, expecting different results. So I think we've got to ask the question, what is Dr. Haas doing or not doing that needs to change. Is there accountability of Dr. Haas performance-wise from the school board? I see a school board that almost, is the word cowtales? Cal-tows to Dr. Haas on everything. I mean, where is the

pushback, the accountability? Where is the, you know, check twice, you know, was it measured twice before you cut? Yeah. Where's any of that? Because all I see is just green light in frictionless leadership with the school board as it applies to an administrator that's 300,000 plus in yearly compensation as you highlighted that has a cabinet that's 10 million

a year and payroll bloat that's leading a school system that's underachieving and underperforming. Yeah, in my opinion, he's running the show. He's steering the ship, whatever analogy you want to use. And the board

is saying to him, we trust you. We will do, we'll support you, you know, whether it was his statement that he made last week after the Spillman Post or any number of other issues. And because, you know, nobody on the board, to my knowledge, has ever run a business. And aside from Grand Page, nobody else has been a classroom teacher, with the possible exception of Dr. Berlin. I think she may have been a special ed assistant or a teacher at some point. So, in my opinion, they don't really know what the solutions are. They're trusting, they're hoping that he does.

Comments coming in quickly. Put your comments at the feed. I'll relay them live on air. I have some comments of my own. Perfect segue into Allison Spillman. What the heck is going on with Allison Spillman? I mean, geez, Louise, I'm just going to look at this as like a dad. Okay, I'm going to look at this as a father of two boys.

My wife and I have been talking about this for a week. You have an at-large school board member who's one of seven people trusted with managing a budget. What's the yearly budget for Elmore County schools? 280 million. There's seven people that are responsible for a $280 million school budget, folks. That's the operating budget. That's the operating budget. That's not the capital improvement budget. That's just the operating room. That's not like building more stuff for the schools to make the school system accommodate more kids in non-trailer fashion. Okay,

280 million. Allison Spilleman decides to pick up her cell phone, get on her personal Facebook page, and she says, oh, it's my personal Facebook page. I should be able to do whatever I want, which is crazy talk. That's just absolute loony tunes. And then she uses the phrase Ku Klux Klanin KKK when talking about kids at Western Amarro in a school group. I'll just start open-ended. What happened with you there? What were you thinking there?

I won't even speculate other than I think she was speaking as a mom and my wife and I have four kids and I know that when the kids are involved and the mama bear comes out. And I think that's a piece of what happened.

She, in my opinion, let her personal emotions get the better of her and made a post that was inappropriate for a member of the elected school board. If she's not on a board, she can say whatever she wants to. But to say what she did. was inappropriate and what I looked up the club

policy on ACPS website to see well is it was it legal was it appropriate for Turning Point USA at Western Albemarle to invite

Victoria Cobb to come and speak and the answer is yes it's not there's nothing in the in the school board policy that says that she can't do this. So, you know, I would say we, the members of the board have a responsibility to protect the rights of all students. And the rights of those students, Noah Coffin and the others at Western Outmoral, was

to have this speaker come in. And just because she may say some things that run counter, to Allison Spillman's personal beliefs, and I get it. She's got a trans child. She saw that as a threat. That doesn't give her the right to spout off on Facebook

the way she did. It was infuriating. It was insulting. It was dangerous. It was unstable. It puts a concerning and dangerous microscope on the school system.

It's going to cause Thursday School Board of meeting to be unpredictable and uncertain? Does Allison Spillman need to resign? You know, I don't know. I'm not going to say...

How about a different phrase of this? Different phrase of this question. You're running for school board. If you were on the school... You tried to get on the school board... Was it last year? Three times. Yeah, right.

Multiple times here. Okay? If you were on the school board, would you have pushed for Allison Spillman's resignation? That's good question. I think I would have posed the question. Does this rise to the level of an offense that would suggest she should step down. And, you know, my inclination at the time was to say, yes, she should, she should step down.

She made a comment just like, I believe, Jay Jones should step out of the race for the Attorney General of Virginia. Because it demonstrates a lack of awareness of her position. And the fact that she didn't apologize, nor did Dr. Haas, nor Kate Acuff, in their statements following up on this. Their follow statements. Are troubling. The follow statements from, well, first, Allison Spillman. Allison Spillman, comparing students at Western Memorial High School to the Ku Klux Klan was, like I said, dangerous. And her word choice was, was, she was.

She should be held accountable for her word choice. The more significant mistake from Allison Spillman was the follow-up statement that did not utilize the phrase. I'm sorry for using these words. I was wrong. What I said was taken out of context, but as an adult and leader of this community, I should have chosen better words.

Instead, she hid behind, I posted on my personal Facebook page, not my public one. Then she tried to do some word salad or some double talk with, oh, you're just manipulating what I'm saying because you don't agree with my politics or my platform. That follow-up statement legitimately to me shows someone who is not in touch with reality. Her position is a leader with the impact of words and their meeting and their significance. Is it elected official?

I mean, it just, it just, and she's one of seven people that's, leading a $280 million budget that has to take a school system that's underperforming and help turn it around. When she made that mistake and then double doubt on the mistake with the statement, my wife and I said, to each other over breakfast at coffee, this hardship we're doing with this private school and this $25,000, we made the right choice without question. Yeah. Reinforced it for us.

Yeah. Yeah. interestingly former school board chair who's not on the board any longer pulled her kids out of public school let them know who was I heard about this

let them know who was Katrina Carlson yeah pulled her kids St. Anne's Belfield out of school out of public school and sent them to private school I don't again I don't blame her don't blame Colson at all

but if you're going to be on the board and you're going to make an attempt to create a better learning environment for all students, then what message are you sending? As a member of the school board, she was a former member. She wasn't on the board. See, he's being extremely nice here. I'll add a little color here because he's a nice person. I'm not as nice as Jim. I'll just cut to the chase. I'm not. A school board chair who utilize her platform as school board chair to trampoline into a position of delegate. She's a delegate now. Correct.

Okay. And she's ambitious and clearly, if we read the tea leaves, has motivation and talent. I hope she watches this and talent to climb the political totem pole. She absolutely does. Yeah. Okay. But a former chair saying no to Elmore County public schools and yes to private schools almost immediately after trampoleting off the school board into this position as a state delegate.

Right. That's a damning, that's a damning turn of events. Ladies and gentlemen, that's a damning turn of events. How does Allison Spillman repair the damage done, not just to herself as an at-large member, the damage done to the school board? Because we then had the chair and the vice chair, issue a statement co-signed with

Superintendent Matthew Haas that looked like a statement that was run through chat, GBT, was Word Salad. I literally had to read it three or four times. I'm like, I just spent a couple of minutes, five minutes, ten minutes reading this.

I have no idea what these people are saying. Yeah. Like this is just mumbo-jumbo, word salad. That offered no contrition, no apology, no distancing of themselves from Spillments,

Ku Klux Klan comparison. Basically, their mumbo-jumbo, word salad, chat, GBT statement seemed to me that they were lockstep with Spilman and what she's about. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, to answer your question, I think the only way that this could settle down, and the only way forward, in my opinion, would be for her to make a statement, and maybe it's tomorrow night at the school board meeting, apologizing for her words I think she should apologize to TPSA at Western Albemarle first

but also to you know the constituents of the county that she chose poorly and she regrets use of the comparison with KKK and so on I think

to me that would be the only way that she could repair the damage, so to speak, and hopefully, you know, move forward. Because I think

you know, she is, obviously she cares a lot about her own kids and other kids in ACPS. But she, I get that. And I, a thousand percent, And in no world do I think that Allison Spillman should or does prioritize the Alamoire County student body ahead of her own children.

In no world should that ever happen. Her top priority as a mother and parent is her kids, her PAC first, the Almore County student body second. We all, as viewers and listeners, and just intelligent people have to understand that. But it's not a world we live in where it's like, I have to. to do my kids ahead of the student body yeah it's not that world it's just don't create the danger yeah don't she created this mess yeah and and it's the the concerning aspect is this is your leader for a 200 nearly 300 million dollar budget yeah and the the the one of seven people trusted with turning the the ship around and then the real concern for me the

biggest concern for me in all this the biggest what the hell is going to going on was the statement by the chair, the vice chair of the school board, and then co-signed by Matthew Haas. Yeah. I'm like, how the heck do you not say, this is bad word choice at the very least? Right. Right. Yeah.

I agree. I agree. And to your earlier point, I think the board is and has been attempting to appear. unanimous. They stand together. And several of them are committee members of the Albemarle Democratic, you know, officers or whatever on the Albaughal Democratic Committee, which to me seems like a conflict of interest and a conflict of the bylaws. Why a conflict of interest? Well, if you look at the ethics, code of ethics for the school board. Bipartisan people.

Number nine says, no member of the board shall get any partisan or financial gain from their position on the board. And if you go back and look at campaign finance tables, the Democratic, Alamo Democrats have donated to, I believe, every one of the members of the current board, as well as my current opponent. Yeah, but to offer some fair and honest pushback on that, I believe there was also some support from the Republican Party for Dr. Bryce's campaign and the Spillman Bryce Race. I individually, maybe not from the Republican Party, but key members of the Republican Party that made donations. But are we, and I'm pushing back again here, I mean, it's a talk show. That's what I'm supposed to do here. Pushing back again, are we really to believe in 2025 in the area of social and digital, media that conservative and liberal are not going to be associated with the candidates that are

running for school board oh for sure it's it's the real you are monikered as conservative i am yeah and i'm very careful to tell people look i'm nonpartisan people want to they want to pigeonhole me they want to know are you are you red or blue but human beings can't be nonpartisan by the nature of being human beings yeah do you agree with that uh yes yeah we have feelings and we have feelings and We have statements and stances. For sure. Yeah. And I would say this, that I've been very careful to say, I don't want to run as a Republican,

and I'm not obviously going to run as a Democrat because they've endorsed my opponent. I want to run as a concerned citizen. And some of my, you know, if you had no idea which way I was leaning politically, I'm not a member of either party. And just read through some of my policy ideas, you might think I'm a Democrat. If you had to pigeonhole me one or the other, you might say, well, he's a Democrat because he wants to increase teacher pay and he wants to support some of the things that the teacher union is in voting in favor, collective bargaining.

I think it's actually a good idea, which is not a conservative platform. So there are certain issues where I would be more blue than red. But getting back to your question, I think, unfortunately, the board has been so completely one-sided for so many years. I don't know when the last time somebody, there was a conservative on the school board. It was probably in the 90s when we had better outcomes and spent less money. So, yeah, I'll leave it at that in terms of partisan politics. I know it's a part of the real world. Well, what's happening is your opponents and the Democrats are trying to moniker you a Republican

because in Almaro County, the R is akin to tar and feather. Correct. And they're trying to do that to create headwinds for you for winning this race because you're a likable, common sense, sensible guy. Right. And the reality is you're more center-isiled than left or right, like a large majority of Almore Countyans, Correct. Virginians, and Americans.

Correct. I think we're very much just center-isle common-sense people. Right. And one of the topics that should be a unifying center-isle topic is kids in schools at education and futures. Right. But unfortunately, it's become a political... I mean, it's crazy what's happening with public school education. It's like a landmine of like political atomic bombs.

I mean, Segway, as Jude is putting headlines on screen, what the heck is going on at Western Amar High School? At Western Amaral High School, I found out about this yesterday. We talked about it on the show yesterday. Then after we talked about it on the show yesterday, I see Rob is posting all about it. Now I'm being told through our contacts that print radio and television are going to start covering it.

There was a petition sent to us. I'm having a hard time even saying this. There was a petition sent to us that was originated by girls at Western Illinois High School. I'm not going to use, I'm not going to, these are minors. These are girls, girls, students at Western Amar High School that are begging, basically hat in hand, adults to sign a petition online that says boys, teenage boys at Western Amaral High School are going into our locker rooms and bathrooms. And they're using this inclusivity policy that Matthew Haas and Almore County School Board and public schools have rolled out where if you're transgender curious, if you're considering transitioning from one sex to another, your biological sex to another, and you're curious, then you can actually go shopping, air quotes, at another locker room and see if that fits your curiosity.

and what these girls with this petition are saying is that these boys that are considering transitioning to girls are coming into our locker rooms not because they're necessarily trans-curious but because they're just boys doing what boys do wanting to look at girls that are not fully cloaked. And if anyone didn't see this coming and say like this is what's going to happen

because I was a terrible, terrible teenager, okay? I mean, I'm talking about like all the bad things that you could possibly do. I did all the bad things. like literally like leading the bad crowd okay like that type of guy of course i would have done this right this is the dumbest thing i've ever heard but i but i empathize as now a father who can't do the dumbest stuff ever because i have a wife and two kids and a mortgage and employees right where it's like i have to do the right things right like i i empathize with the girls big time

that they're in their most vulnerable state changing clothes during a time of puberty and they feel like their most intimate moment is exposed to the opposite sex. What the hell is going on here? It's nuts. It's nuts, dude. It's so nuts. Yeah, yeah. And I heard your show yesterday, and I'm so grateful that there's a group of girls.

Yeah, exactly. Just like with Noah Kaufman and the Turning Point kids, it blows my mind. I mean, yes and no, I'm not entirely surprised. But I am 100% behind the effort to change that. If I were on the board, I would be knocking on Dr. Haas's door daily until that gets, that needs to change like yesterday. 100%. I am, you know, I'm going to say, I want to support trans students who are, who are genuinely. genuinely going through the process.

Transgender students need protection, just like any other student. I get that. But to allow biological boys, male at birth, to go into locker rooms and bathrooms for girls is completely unacceptable. It blows my mind as a dad and as a former teacher and coach. thankfully we didn't have to deal with this back in the 90s I'm not sure what I would have done aside from say hell no we're not going to we're not going to allow this so I don't know what needs to happen in order for this petition to go through and for the policy to change

like you I wasn't I'm not sure I was the troublemaker that you were but I taught and coached you know, kids, young kids, young men for 10 years, three in middle school in Lynchburg before I came here and taught at Albemarle High School. You know what it's like. I know what it's like. And I know my kids couldn't get away with anything because I knew what was going on in the mind of a 15-year-old boy. I'm sorry.

So, yeah, the fact that the girls had to initiate this thing just makes me so sad. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm hoping that this will come up in discussions like tomorrow. For the print, radio and television is all over the show right now, and viewers and listeners put your comments in the feed, and I'll relay them live on air. I've got a lot of comments that I'm going to get to here in a matter of moments. For the print, radio, and television that's watching the program right now,

this is the storyline that should be in the new cycle, as we're now less than a month away from this election. This is the story line. It should, yes, it should be the Spillman and the Ku Klux Klan and the support from the chair and vice chair and the superintendent on Spillman's Ku Klux Klan comments. But girls digitally hat in hand begging adults to sign a petition so they could have their most intimate moments kept private from boys who are using the curiosity, who are leveraging, who are exploiting, who are exploiting. who are exploiting. Exploiting is better. Exploiting the inclusivity policy

that Superintendent Matthew Haas and the school board have approved to allow boys into locker rooms to watch girls in their intimate moments. That is, if I was a parent of a daughter, I have two sons, okay? But if I was a parent of a daughter in Almore County Public Schools,

in particular Western Amar High School, I wouldn't just be a Thursday school board meeting. I would be at Matthew Haas's house. and Kate Acuff's out, I swear to God, I would be. And God forbid what my wife would do, who's an Irish Catholic, hot-headed, lover dearly, passionate person. She would be huffing and puffing and blowing the house down. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and I plan later today to send Dr. Acuff an email and say, what is the process, how can this policy be changed, immediately because the pressure needs to be on Dr. Acuff and Dr. Haas to take a look at this. They need to hear from the public. This is not acceptable. And I think it was Loudoun County earlier this year, probably Loudoun, where two boys who had a female student come into the locker room or a bathroom, I'm not sure which, and they fussed about that, and they

were suspended. Talk about upside down. I think you also had a Loudoun County where it was a trans boy, biological male go into female locker room as a transgender, and there was

rape involved, and then there was repositioning in a different school and a cover-up and it happened again. And it happened again. So, you know, comments, we'll get to comments here. Kate Sharts watching the program, She says, I hope you win, Jim. You've spoken common sense here today, much needed.

Philip Dow, one great guy, this gym, he needs to be elected. Chad Wood is giving you emoji props left and right here. William McChesney, given your support, watching the program here. Suzanne Daly has got some comments. She says, Jerry, the answer to your question on how this happened, Almore County Public Schools struggling, and at this point, is equity. ACPS prioritizes equity over merit. Equity is equal outcome regardless of access.

People think equity is a quality. It is not. The 50% is the lowest grade you can get. Unlimited retakes, zero homework policy, as well as writing schools of merit-based Mesa program, as well as ridding schools of merit-based Mesa program. calling general basic classes advanced to make kids and parents feel better, moving to a model of supervisors rather than teachers, a plan they have had in place for years,

not listening to teachers who are frustrated with hands being tied with discipline, expectations, homework, retakes. There is an equity priority statement in the signature line of every employee's email in the county. Haas has needed to be fired for years due to the bombing out of test scores under his leadership. But until parents start asking questions, paying attention, and advocating, ACPS will continue with the rhetoric and the everything is just fine attitude. They have been hemorrhaging teachers due to the lack of leadership and support. It is a raging dumpster fire, unfortunately, and they don't listen to parents who pay attention.

That's Suzanne Daly there. Vanessa Park Hill and Ehrlichville, thank you, Jim, for your support. Thank you, or thank you, Jim, thank you, Jim. Spending more is not always the solution. Spending wisely is critical. Randy O'Neill throwing a significant shade at the superintendent.

I appreciate your comments for Andy. We're not going to get into all these. Jason Noble says it is noble, it's a noble endeavor to be non-partisan. Sadly, that's not the game. The other side plays in Amar County, which is 100% right there.

More comments continue. I mean, comments faster than I can keep up with. I'll reference this from Deep Throat. Jim sounds way too sensible. to be electable in Almorel County, sadly. I hope I'm wrong here, he says. I mean, you literally, I won't say who, we should say who, because that meeting was done

prior to the show in confidence. We were talking about some other business. You had a heavy hitter in our studio, heavy, heavy hitter that literally said, why are you doing this? It's the first thing he sent to you. Why are you doing this? And then I respected your answer back. I mean, how many times have you heard that? A lot.

Yeah, my friends, And some extended family say, what, what are you thinking? Yeah. And, you know, I'm going to say, I don't have all of the answers, but I have a lot of questions, right? And if elected, I'm going to be spending the majority of my time hearing from people who have been in the trenches and have some ideas about what we can do to turn this thing around. Let's look at the Mississippi miracle. Law was passed 10 or 15 years ago saying that no third grader will be advanced to the fourth grade unless he or she can read and pass the test that passed the standardized tests.

Shocking. They went from near the bottom on test scores to leading the nation in improvement in test scores within a short period of time. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know how much I'll be able to accomplish if I'm elected being, you know, on a board with six other people. Yeah. And as Ned Galloway told me a few months ago, he said, Jim, if you get elected, you're going to have to learn how to get along with the others on the board if you're going to get anything accomplished. Which, I think you have that skill set. I mean, you're a likable guy.

Well, I've got some ideas, some of my top priorities in Susan. Suzanne, really, she nailed it. I mean, I think I might have to reach out to her to help with my campaign website. But one of the things she mentioned is the grading policy and the homework policy. That has been completely destructive of student progress. And as a good friend of mine, who's the math chair at Albemarle High School, said, and to the board, look, this grading policy is counterproductive, getting a 50 by putting your name on a paper. does not help the students.

Being able to retake tests three or four times, not only doesn't help the students, it's detrimental to the teachers. I can't imagine if I had 120 students, which was pretty normal for me when I was teaching government at Albemarle, to have to keep up with which retake and create three or four different tests. That's crazy.

Well, and it's also happening at a time, and this is the educational gap, this is the gentrification of education. It's also happening at a time when the enrollment at private schools are upticking. All the private schools, the enrollment is upticking. All of them are upticking. And that does not happen at the private schools.

So you have in this community we call Central Virginia, and the largest county in Central Virginia is Almore County, in a lot of ways, the driver of Central Virginia, you have most of the private schools based in Almaro County, the enrollment in Almore County private schools going up

the education offered at the private schools at Almore County, I'm seeing it first hand. Dude, the stuff they're doing in second grade is legitimately what they're doing in third grade and early fourth grade at the public schools. I'll say it again. What our kid is doing in second grade

is what is being done in third grade and early fourth grade in the public schools folks. So you have kids that are performing at ahead of the level clip in the private schools, while kids that are in the public schools are performing at below a gray level clip. And then they're going to enter society and wonder why we have gaps in wealth and gaps in society and gaps in

performance and gaps in just quality of life. And it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. School resource officers. That in a lot of ways was like the hot topic. And then Spillman does the Ku Klux. clan thing, then Haas supports Spillman's Ku Klux Klan thing, and then I find out that there's these guys in the

locker room that are watching girls unchanged by saying they're trans curious, Ginny Who says, my understanding is that Western Amora High School, that there are gender-neutral bathrooms, so there is no benign and innocent explanation for biological males to be in the female

spaces. A hundred percent, Ginny Who, there are gender-neutral bathrooms at Western Memorial High School. A hundred percent, and you're 100 percent right. School resource officers, where do you want to go on that? Oh, I absolutely approve the notion that every high school in this county should have

an SRO. No doubt. We had one at Albaughal back in the 90s. The relationship with students was fantastic. And you know, the argument that a number of people made that... Pipeline to prison? Oh, yeah. It's a joke. It's a joke. You know what's

a pipeline to prison? Doing stuff that can put you in prison. And not learning how to read, and being concerned enough to teach kids how to read, but if they don't read by the end of the third or fourth grade, you're screwed. They're screwed for the rest of their lives, and that's what's happening right now to the majority of students.

Why do we walk through metal detectors at sporting events at Scott Stadium, the John Paul Jones Arena, and why do we walk through metal detectors for football games at Amoral High School or Monticello High School or Western Amoreal High School, and why do we walk through metal detectors at basketball games and at airports, but we don't walk through metal detectors at public schools? Or why is there grief given? Why is there people saying that a school resource officer is a pipeline to prison?

It's not a pipeline to prison. That's just a word salad that you're trying to use to manipulate the narrative. Correct. The pipeline to prison is your actions that are against law. Correct. 100%. Yeah. If you're not doing anything, if you don't have a weapon on your person or you're not

breaking the law, you're going to do all right in school. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just, I don't, it doesn't this seem like common sense? Yeah, and I think the pushback. Your whole platform should be like, I'm going to return common sense, Amar County Public Schools. Yeah, yeah, I've had several supporters say that. The pushback on the metal detectors, at least at Almaro High School, and I think at Western. The inefficiency of them?

It was the inefficiency. Yeah. But that got figured out, though. That's poor planning. That's poor planning. Yeah. They didn't have enough detectors. For the 2,000 students, again, poor planning, it should have happened 10, 15 years ago. Of not having an overcrowded school.

Exactly. Yeah. And from all, everything I've heard from the parents of Almore County, Almore High School students, is that inefficiency has been fixed. That it's not nearly as bad as it once was. That's what I've heard. That's not the message that came out two weeks ago. That it's still extremely inefficient. that is oh you're talking about the metal detectors yeah the metal detectors yeah i did hear on that point

it has gotten better well no no but the overpopulation of admiral high school is still very present it's it's terrible yeah it's terrible and there obviously needs to be a high school built north of town correct which is so obvious yeah and like the high school model strikes me as a model now of neighborhood high schools as opposed to what we have now which just also seems like common sense yeah yeah your thoughts yeah I mean, again, Albemarle High School was overcrowded in 97 when they built Monticello. And they told us when I was teaching it at Albemarle that Monticello wouldn't take that many students away from Albemarle. And in fact, you know, you fast forward 20 years later, that's absolutely true.

And, you know, they're building condos and apartments and houses in the Ryo district and along 29 North. So we should have built a fourth high school. The high school center, one, was built for, I don't know, two or 300 students. There are less than 200 students there now. High school center, too, which is supposed to open in next summer, supposed to be for two to 400 students. It's not going to have that many students. And even if it did, the projection that Maya Kumazawa made a couple weeks ago is there would still be overcrowding at Western and at Albemarle within two to three years. It's just kicking the can down. Kicking the can down the road. Joshua Batman, giving you props on LinkedIn.

Carol Thorpe watching the program, she says, she's loving what you're saying. I regret that as a resident of the Jack Jewett District, I cannot vote for you. I wish school board elections were general Almaral Countywide, she says. there's a guy that's watching in eastern Tennessee named Jeremy Wilson watches the show regularly he says I unfortunately live in Tennessee but you would have my vote Jim

All right let's I'll just end the I'll end the interview this way okay you have a month left and this is the same thing I said to Dave Shreve and I've been doing this I've been in this community for 25 years

first job out of UVA was working for the Daily Progress work for NBC 29 doing on-air television, work for Monticello Media, work for many of the media companies before launching this business in 2008, intimately know the news cycle,

on the pulse of the new, driving the new cycle. If you do not go on the offensive and be an alpha aggressive and utilize the Spillman misstep, the dangerous misstep, the superintendent, co-chair, vice chair response, this lunacy with the locker rooms and teenage boys watching teenage girls

in their most intimate moments under the guise of being trans-curious. The SROs and the, I mean, I'm going to use the phrase, I'm going to get in trouble from this for my wife, but it just kind of shows you. Piss-poor test scores and like alpha-aggressive dog that. How are you going to win this race? And I think you should win this race. Well, there is a track record.

Yeah, there's a track record. Last year I came within 6% or 5.5% of Chuck Pace, who was a great guy, great teacher. Passed away. Very, very dialed into education. We agreed on a lot of points. I actually got more votes on Election Day than Chuck did, in part because I was out knocking on hundreds of doors. As far as I know, Chuck didn't do that, and my opponent isn't doing that. And I had people at every precinct in the Ryo district saying, hey, consider voting for Jim.

And so we actually got more votes on Election Day, but we lost in the early voting. So this year, I've gotten a mailer out before early voting started on September 19th, just introducing myself. I have more name recognition now. I have more signs up. I've knocked on hundreds of doors in neighborhoods that I didn't get to last year. I'll be out there for four hours, five hours again this Saturday. I'm out at the county office building every Friday greeting voters, even though a small fraction of them are in the Ryo district.

And my message, I've got another mailer coming out next week, that pointing out the discrepancy and the lousy test scores and the fact that I'm promoting change on the board. I'm running against the school board, essentially. I'm running against the status quo. You're running against the establishment. Correct. You're running against...

You get tough. I hope, you know what, I'm going to straight up say this. I normally, I don't say stuff like this on the show. I hope you win. Like, you need to be on the board. Appreciate it. You are, like, just a common sense guy. Appreciate it.

Like, I swear to God. But this is like mountain biking up Carter's Mountain with a single-gear bike. I've done a lot of biking, so I can appreciate that analogy. With not 29-inch tires, no shocks, front or back, and maybe not even a seat. Yeah, I mean, I'm exhausted. Yeah, I'm tired. I have to admit, I'm tired. And I'm so glad that we're inside of four weeks, four weeks from yesterday.

And this whole thing is going to be over. So I'm optimistic. I think if enough people understand that I'm running to bring better education to their kids and the kids in the community for those, especially for all kids, but especially those kids that don't have a voice, then if I can get people to understand, when I tell people the test scores from Woodbrook, they're like, no, that can't be true. What's your source of information? The website, Google, Woodbrook Elementary School, School Profile, there it is, in black and white. So, yeah, I'm trying to get more name recognition, and it's just a matter of working hard. We have Coden Owen watching the program. He just sent me a text, Sir Speedy of Central Virginia.

He's the owner. He wants me to give you a little nudge, nudge for any mailers or marketing collateral. Use Sirf Speedy of Central Virginia. It's locally owned and operated. He's a Darden School graduate. Sir Spidea of Central Virginia does the marketing collateral, the print. and the signage for our firm. Maybe I'll go to him for my third mailer.

Sir Speedy, essentially. Conan Owen. He can beat any price. Excellent. All right. I'll close with this. And you've already answered this question here. Just I'll give you the question here.

Well, you've got a lot of people watching here, by the way. Why should the people watching the program vote Jim Dillenbeck? over uh leslie prior well i appreciate uh all of the um sentiments especially well not especially but from people inside and outside of rio district i wish that everybody in the county could vote for me uh you know i think um i would bring to the board some some diversity i know that sounds weird as a white man saying this, but it would be diversity of thought. It is a, I have what I think is both the experience in education,

10 years of experience in education, and 25 plus years in business that is sorely needed on this board where there isn't anybody else, to my knowledge, that has that expertise, but also to come as a, as a means of giving teachers and families who have felt underappreciated and disconnected a voice. And so I plan to have a teacher advisory committee that I meet with on a regular basis

to hear what's going well, what's not going well, and to do the same with parents. Not just in Rio, because if I'm on the board, I'm going to be serving the students of all of Alarmar County. but you can bet I'm going to be bringing some Tiger team attention to, especially to Woodbrook Elementary School. I'll close with this. This is from a parent, Western Amoral High School, and this individual does not want me to use his name. He says, don't use my name on this. My daughter goes to Western Amoural High School and is friends with some of the trans students at Western. she says, his daughter says, this perspective needs to be out there on the I Love Seville Show, that the trans students at Western are using the gender-neutral bathrooms, that the boys that are going into the girls' locker rooms are not the trans students.

It's teenage boys that want to see teenage girls. Oh, yeah, absolutely. We knew that was going to happen. Yeah, for sure. For sure. We knew that was going to happen. Yeah. So this parent, through his daughter and this.

platform and the influence of the platform says please let the show and the platform know that it's not the trans students at Western that are causing the trouble. It's not the trans students at Western that causing the trouble. So emphasizing that right there on the show. It's just teenage boys being

teenage boys. Which of course they would be. Sure. That's the show. He's got a fantastic URL. JimforSchoolboard.com. The fact that that was available was amazing. I was shocked. I know.

Jimferschoolboard.com is the URL. It's a fantastic website. I mean, he's got a very robust website for content and issues and his platform points. Jimforschoolboard.com. We're under a month. What do we got? Four weeks from yesterday. Four weeks from yesterday left.

You could meet him tomorrow. Bring your popcorn. And you probably might have to camp out tonight if you want to get to the school board meeting tomorrow because this is going to be the most highly anticipated. and maybe attended school board meeting in Almore County history, I've been told that they're three-xing the police presence at this school board meeting with more, even more, in the parking lot on standby.

Meet him there, reach out to him on through his website. I get the impression that he's not going to be sleeping much in the next four weeks and it's going to have to be shaking a lot of hands and getting to know a lot of people. Yeah. You crush this. Thank you. Seriously, you crush this.

Appreciate the platform and the opportunity to get the word out. I really appreciate it. It was our pleasure. That is one hour and 12 minutes straight without stopping with Jim Dillon back on the I Love Seville Show. Judah Wickhauer, thank you for helping set up the interview behind the camera. Judah, coordinated the scheduling of this interview. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. That's the talk show, guys.

We are back tomorrow Thursdays. Today, a minute, tomorrow at 1015. The Today Meñana guys, the Erpi family has their show Today Meñana at 10.15 a.m. tomorrow. And then the I Love Seville show at 1230. Thank you kindly for joining us on the show. So long.