The harassment has been going on for months, Carmel Unified School District board candidate Jill Lewis says, with nasty posts on Facebook and Instagram. One social media account, since deleted, bore a name that references Lewis’ 5-year-old daughter, and another account, since taken private, accused Lewis of being racist and seemed to refer to women as “godless” whores.
Then came the threat.
An Instagram post on a now-private account shows a picture of an Uzi and cash, along with a caption that references Lewis, stating: “Guys, who’s the lady who… is running for school board, come on fellas, help… it’ll be funny.”
It’s prompted an investigation by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, and an email from Carmel High School Principal Jon Lyons to every parent at Carmel High. In the email, sent late Oct. 20, Lyons writes he was just made aware of the posts, which he describes as part of a growing trend to “demean and degrade” others.
“Carmel High School’s practice in these cases is to investigate if we feel that a current CHS student may be responsible for a post such as this. This occurs each time a student or parent brings something to our attention,” he writes.
About two months before she considered running for the CUSD board, Lewis says she gathered 1,400 signatures on a petition that asked for CUSD to bring kids back to school, “safely,” during the pandemic. The harassment started with adults publicly telling her she was bringing drama to board meetings, after she called out what she described as a sexist culture in the district.
“It’s sickening,” she says. “People think the sexist culture I’m talking about is a difference of opinion but it goes deeper than that. And then teenagers in the community feel it’s OK to write sexist, racist jokes and post something equal to a death threat.
“I’m an adult,” she adds, “and it’s going to be hard to sleep tonight. I’ve been ignoring it, but bringing my daughter into it and then the death threat, they crossed a line.”