“All right, here we go. Everyone ready?” Julie Shaffer, president of the Lakota (Ohio) Board of Education, asked her fellow board members.
Heads nodded, and the special meeting on March 20 began with only one item on the agenda: to remove one of their own.
In under 12 minutes, the Lakota Board of Education dismissed fellow board member Darbi Boddy by a vote of 3-0. Board member Isaac Adi abstained.
Boddy was not present, a consequence of a civil stalking protection order against her.
The order was filed by Adi.
Such is the wild tale of the Lakota School Board, which has been mired in controversy and unflattering headlines for the entirety of Boddy’s tenure.
Two-and-a-half years of drama
Boddy was elected to the Lakota board, which covers the Cincinnati suburbs of West Liberty and Westchester townships, in November 2021. She ran on a platform of “teaching the greatness of America.” According to her campaign website, this greatness includes:
- Ending the promotion of “racist ideologies to our students and faculty,” including “the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter.”
- The “honest teaching of American history.” America, she stated, has “given peasants the lifestyle of kings and more liberty and more wealth to minorities than any country in human history.”
- The “honest teaching of the sexes in our classrooms,” including “the fact that sex is determined at birth and cannot be changed” and the elimination of “boys’ competing in girls’ sports programs.”
She and Adi campaigned together for two of the three open slots on the board. They were the top two vote-getters, with 17.31% (Adi) and 16.99% (Boddy) of votes. Kelley Casper was the third winning candidate.
Boddy quickly became a polarizing force on the board.
In April 2021, only a few months after she was elected, Boddy was censured after she posted links to sexual content on Facebook. She claimed the links were a typo, but said they were representative of the pornography being taught in the schools.
At a November 2021 meeting, in front of a group of second graders being recognized for their civility and leadership, Boddy repeatedly kept yelling and disrupting the order of the meeting, all while her young daughter was crouched under the table.
At that meeting, Boddy proposed banning trans students from athletics and forfeiting any athletic competitions against teams with trans students. That motion was defeated 4-1.
Boddy further attempted to ban trans athletes and bathroom access for trans students at an April 2023 meeting. She again repeatedly yelled, interrupted her colleagues and was ruled out of order. An exasperated Casper called her a “petulant child.”
Between meetings, Boddy posted a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ and “anti-woke” articles and videos on her Facebook page. She has alleged that National Geographic is an activist publication that supports predators, that Pride flags represent exclusion, and that “there is no such thing as transgender.”
She also reposted an unsigned letter alleging sexual assault in a Lakota school bathroom. There was no evidence or corroboration connected to the post.
Protection order and removal
According to court documents, Boddy confronted Adi at an April 2023 conservative leadership conference in Florida, accosting him in front of witnesses. She claimed he wasn’t conservative enough.
On June 22, Boddy posted a video to Facebook of her confronting Adi, claiming he said that her “brain was empty.” She filed an assault report after Adi was seen in the video pushing her camera away, but the Butler County Sheriff’s Office did not move forward with charges.
Adi filed a civil protection stalking order against Boddy in September 2023, but an exception was made for them to present at the same school board meetings pending Boddy’s appeal to the order. When that appeal was denied, she was issued a citation when she tried to enter a school board meeting in November.
At the March 20 special meeting, Shaffer said that Boddy’s inability to participate in meetings prevented them from being a “fully functional” school board.
“We need to be five strong to do the work of the district,” Shaffer said.
The resolution they passed dismissed Boddy pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code that states a seat shall be vacated when a board member is absent from board meetings for a period of 90 days, if the reason for the absence is declared insufficient by two-thirds of the Board.
Immediately following the vote, Shaffer announced a vacancy on the board. Applause was heard as the meeting adjourned.
Less than a day later, Boddy’s picture was removed from the board’s website.
Boddy likened herself to former President Donald Trump and the 90+ charges he currently faces for election interference, falsifying documents, mishandling classified documents and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
“Not a day goes by when I’m not thanked by someone who lets me know that my presence has had a positive effect on the future of Lakota,” Boddy told Cincinnati CityBeat. “It’s pathetic and sad, and this is the same type of thing they are trying to do to Trump.” 🔥
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