St. Johns County School Board has a long history of violating civil and constitutional rights.
During 2011-2012, St. Johns County School Board and its attorney, Frank D. Upchurch, III, wanted to reduce African-American voting strength in District 2 from nearly 15% to less than 10%. We, the People stopped them. St. Johns County Commissioners were having none of it, and County Attorney Patrick Francis McCormack worked with the County's consultants through a holiday weekend (Upchurch refused to join him).
The School Board's misbegotten proposal would have violated the Voting Rights Act and then 15th Amendment.
Tommy Allen has been a part of repeated constitutional rights violations by the St. Johns County School Board, struck down by federal judges, including First Amendment violations by inflicting a Christian religious song as a condition of elementary school graduation (two different songs), and invidious discrimination against a trans boy, Drew Adams. Our cruel School Board had a long history of racial bigotry and segregation, also struck down by federal court.
I shall always remember that School Board lawyer Frank D. Upchurch III and the School Board Chairman at the time stared at me with hate stares during a County Commission hearing on then subject. I did not know who they were, but I found their body language to be intimidating. I was glad that we have St. Johns County deputies present at our meetings to prevent violence.
I don't know how long Upchurch has been the School Board's lawyer, because the School Board says it does not know. Upchurch falls asleep in meetings. He also wrote a threatening letter to Michelle Hemingway, a student at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, which helped lead to nearly $3 million in judgments for six students against the University.
I'm glad that Anthony Coleman is running for School Board in District 2, in a District that we helped keep safe for democracy -- safe from the likes of Tommy Allen and his School Board colleagues, who know not that they know not that they know not.
Candidate for school board hopes to take on longtime incumbent
By Christen Kelley
Posted Nov 4, 2019 at 4:25 PM
The race for St. Johns County School Board is beginning to draw candidates ahead of the 2020 elections.
District 2 and 5 seats are up for election, but so far Anthony Coleman is the only registered candidate. He hopes to take on longtime incumbent Tommy Allen, covering the southwestern part of the county.
It’s an area Coleman knows well — his family is from Hastings and still lives there, operating Coleman’s Mortuary on Main Street. Coleman went to Hastings High School before it closed and said he’s seen how much the area has changed.
“Being passionate about our kids and being passionate about safety, my mission statement for my campaign is ‘keeping our kids safe in the 21st century.’ With so much technology, our kids are facing so many things that we didn’t have to face 30-40 years ago,” Coleman said. “I’m actually from the district that I’m campaigning for. I was born and raised in that district, so I’ve got a vested interest in that district.”
Coleman is a former deputy with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, where he served on the Youth Resource unit. He retired in 2017 after 30 years with the agency.
Coleman said his experience as a youth resource officer could be an advantage on the school board in the post-Parkland era.
“Having served as a youth resource officer, and having worked with kids from every spectrum of social scales, I was able to see from different perspectives of kids,” Coleman said. “So there’s a lot of expertise that I’ve learned in my 30 years that enhances what I can offer to the educational system.”
Coleman’s family also operates the faith-based organization Hope Pavilion, a boys’ home that offers mentoring and other resources. As a deputy, he also served on the Police Athletic League to provide children with after-school activities and academic tutoring.
During his time with the Sheriff’s Office, he received multiple awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors graduates of the St. Johns County public school system who returned to serve their community.
With six children — including a son who teaches at South Woods Elementary — and 13 grandchildren entering St. Johns County schools, Coleman said he’s familiar with the ins and outs of the district.
He said if elected, he plans to serve the same way he did as a deputy — as a community liaison.
“All of my career has been hands-on, reaching out to the people and finding out what they need,” Coleman said. “We address that through attending meetings, going to the basketball games, all the things that I did as a youth resource officer.”
Allen has served on the school board for more than 25 years, but that doesn’t intimidate Coleman. He thinks he can bring in an outside perspective to the school board and bridge the gap between some of the newer neighborhoods and the rural roots in west St. Johns County, where he’s become a figure in the community.
“When I look at what I can bring from Hastings, I can bring the originale, and connect those communities,” Coleman said. ’We have to look in terms of where the county wants to be in five years, where the county wants to be in 10 years.”
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