Bernadette Smith
Running for school board in Charles County District 1
Email: bernadette_ccrcc@aol.com
How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 3)?
70
Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?
No
What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?
Bachelor's of Science in Journalism, University of Maryland
Why are you running for the school board?
I am running for school board as a way to serve God and serve my fellow man. I am blessed by the mere fact that I was born in the United States—a prosperous and free country that provided me with opportunities to succeed. Keeping a free country free requires responsibility, involvement and participation. We cannot expect our nation to flourish and thrive if we sit on the sidelines. As I witness our nation losing its economic strength and moral compass, I have chosen to run for the school board to do whatever I can to help right the ship.
Today, a war on children is harming our youngest citizens. The war starts with abortion as lives of children in the womb are deemed worthless and expendable. The war is seen in the numerous mandatory vaccinations foisted upon children. The war is seen in fatherless homes, broken families and children growing up with no sense of direction or purpose. The war is witnessed in our failing school system in which taxpayers foot the bill for ever-increasing costs, and yet, little positive results are seen.
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
I can be both detail oriented, as well as big-picture focused. My background is in research, analysis, writing and editing. My work portfolio includes numerous positions and projects. Career highlights include a leading role in cutting edge technology, transitioning U.S. Navy technical manuals from paper to electronics. Transferring to federal law enforcement, I led numerous projects, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives's award nominations and submissions process. I retired from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a public affairs specialist (speechwriter). Primarily, I wrote remarks for ICE leadership, as well as top stories while also coordinating ICE’s newsworthy public affairs events. Since retirement, I became active in political circles, while also volunteering much of my time to church activities. I have authored three books, two of which are informational regarding vaccinations. “The Covid Con; The Totalitarians’ Secret War Against Humanity,” published in 2021 and reprinted in 2023, received 5-star acclaim on Amazon. I look forward to learning more about the school system and working alongside my fellow school board members and others so together we can make a positive difference in the Charles County education system and our community.
What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?
Children failing or performing below grade level in reading and math are the biggest issues. Lack of reading comprehension has serious repercussions, not only for the future of our children, but for our country as a whole. A populace that is uneducated, does not understand the history of our country or the nation's legal framework and who are unable to critically think are targets for control, manipulation, indoctrination and ultimately, vulnerable to tyranny and enslavement.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
I hold several “heroes” in my heart. One is Katy Faust, who founded an organization called Them Before Us. Them Before Us believes that children should not be making painful and difficult sacrifices in life to fulfill adult whims and desires. She discusses divorce, abortion, surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, gender ideology and more. Recently, I learned of Dorothy Kilgallen, a hard-boiled investigative journalist, T.V. personality and high society columnist of the 1960s. She was the only journalist who interviewed Jack Ruby. She wrote a manuscript on John. F. Kennedy’s assassination, slated for print. But Kilgallen was suspiciously found dead in her New York apartment; dubiously ruled a suicide. I admire environmental activist Erin Brockovich, who successfully exposed and brought to prosecution Pacific Gas and Electric for dumping poisons into a California neighborhood, which sickened and killed children. In Maryland, I admire the Freedom Caucus members who are in the minority, but continue to fight for Maryland citizens.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased funding to support early childhood education, higher teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Since the Blueprint's implementation, test scores have increased modestly in many parts of the state, but some school officials complain about the costs and administrative burdens placed on them by the Blueprint. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it is affecting your school district.
I need to examine the Blueprint more in depth, but considering that Maryland school children are woefully behind the curve in learning and results, I don’t think much of the Blueprint. For several reasons, I do not support universal preschool or increased funding for schools.
Chronic absenteeism has been a problem in many schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. How big of a problem is absenteeism in your school district, and what if anything can the Board of Education do about it?
The pandemic inserted massive fear into Americans, as it was designed to do, to coerce the population into getting the experimental, genetic-altering, spike protein laden bioweapon. The non-deadly virus upended the normal rhythm of life, including school attendance. But it has been six years since the covid, so it’s hard to say just why children are not attending school. This is another problem in Maryland schools that needs to be explored, studied and addressed to find a solution.
Are you satisfied with your school district's policy on AI use by students? If so, why? If not, what would you suggest to improve the AI policy?
From what I have gathered, AI does not play a large role in the Charles County Public School System curricula. Some in the academic community are encouraging AI, and others oppose it on the grounds that children—especially those in the higher grades—might use AI as a means to cheat and plagiarize. AI may have a place in the learning process, but again, this is an area that needs further examination, study and discussion, before jumping into this new technology. I am a great believer in reading and writing as the best methods to learn. Learning would skyrocket if we could get children enthused about reading novels, biographies and other nonfiction. My hope is that, as a society, we can find our way back to books. Unfortunately, reading has been overwhelmingly supplanted with videos and screen time, which by all indicators, can hinder learning, memory and critical thinking.
Youth mental health has been a growing concern for years now. Do you think your school district has the resources and personnel in place to deal with this issue adequately? If not, what would you suggest to improve the situation?
We need to understand the source of children’s mental health issues. Mandatory vaccinations; prescription drugs; dyes, glyphosate and other pesticides in the food supply; geoengineering; troubled family lives and absent fathers in the homes, all work against the mental health and well-being of children. The school and parents need to work together toward the optimal mental and physical health of children.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?
Absolutely. Any books, literature or cartoon-type presentations with sexual content should be banned from libraries, classrooms and schools altogether. Exposing children to sexual material and discussions on this subject with school children is inappropriate in academic settings. Basically, presenting sexual material in school settings is child abuse in that it invades their privacy and destroys their right to innocence. In addition, sexual topics introduced in school often take a stance that is contrary to family values and/or religious beliefs.
