MIDLAND, Mich. — It started out as a loud chorus of parental voices in opposition to school district policies designed to battle COVID-19. However, after the arrests of a couple of Rise Up Midland leaders, the group’s cause has faded to a dull roar as its school board candidates suffered devastating defeats at the ballot box on Tuesday.
Melinda Cox, Sara Ladwein, and Jimmy Sheets — three candidates put up by the controversial and ultra-conservative group Rise Up Midland — failed in their quest to win seats on the Midland Public Schools Board of Education. Instead, the community chose the more moderate voices of the establishment: Jon Lauderbach and Phil Rausch, two incumbents; and a progressive, Jennifer Ringgold.
Rise Up Midland started as the Facebook group “PARENTS AGAINST MPS MASK MANDATE” before a rebrand and a more formal organization. The group was started by parent Jacob Lewis who organized a protest after Superintendent Michael Sharrow changed the district’s mask policy.
Last September, concerned parents from the district and members of Rise Up Midland gathered outside the M.P.S. administration building to protest the recent policy change on masks. Staying on the public sidewalk to avoid disruption, the group held up signs and chanted “Parent’s Choice” while Mr. Lewis made his voice heard with a megaphone.
The movement culminated later that month on Sept. 20 during a school board meeting which was held in the Central Auditorium. The meeting was moved from the district’s administration building to the larger auditorium to accommodate the larger-than-expected crowd and to allow for more social distancing. The public audience for the meeting was largely comprised of two main groups: those opposed to masks and those supporting masks. The group supporting masks generally sat, masked, on the stage-left side of the auditorium and the group that opposed masks sat, unmasked, on the stage-right side. Some members of the group opposed to masks took down tape that was adhered to some sections of seating to promote social distancing, and they sat together in a large group.
During the meeting, a panel of experts was invited to present COVID-19 information. The panel consisted of Dr. Paul Berg, President of MidMichigan Physicians Group; Dr. Adam Hamilton, a pediatrician at MidMichigan Health; Dr. Michael Elftman, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Disease at Central Michigan University; and Dr. Courtney Pearson, an infectious disease doctor at MidMichigan Health.
Throughout the meeting, certain members of the audience heckled members of the panel as well as the board. Audience members in the ‘anti-mask’ section of the crowd frequently shook their heads and threw their hands up in the air as the doctors conducted their presentations.
“Can any of you attest to the psychological, the emotional, toll that a mask takes on our children? Will any of you ask that question?” a member of the audience in the unmasked ‘section’ asked while the panel was exiting the stage.
“What about Mr. C.M.U. with your cloth diaper on your face?” Mr. Sheets, one of Tuesday’s defeated candidates, said from the crowd, apparently referring to Dr. Elftman.
After some back-and-forth, the board allowed Dr. Elftman to respond, however after about five seconds, the crowd began to interrupt him, prompting Mr. Lauderbach to admonish some members of the audience.
“Hold on. Time-out,” Mr. Lauderbach said over the interruptions.
“No, no. No more ‘time-out,’” an unidentified member of the audience responded. “The gloves are off!”
“Look, here’s the deal,” Mr. Lauderbach responded. “These doctors took the time to come tonight to answer questions. He’s doing the best he can to answer your question. You owe him the respect to listen to what he has to say, or, if I were him, I’d go home and spend some time with my family. OK? Let him finish. Let him finish, or Officer Hinson is gonna…”
Mr. Lauderbach’s words trailed off as the masked portion of the audience erupted in applause.
Throughout the academic year, members of Rise Up Midland would frequently attended school board meetings and voice their opposition to some of the policies the district put into place as a way to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Rise Up Midland initially started as an apolitical, anti-mask organization, however its members quickly morphed the movement into one that celebrated and promoted cliché conservative bogeymen such as vaccines, voter fraud, critical race theory, sex education — and even books.
The group’s leaders had a plan to change the district policies they abhorred. They would run for seats on the school board. One of Rise Up Midland’s leaders, Will Zablocki, a software engineer and a parent of four children in the district, announced his candidacy in late 2021.
“I oppose masking children. I think there are health consequences that outweigh the benefits,” Mr. Zablocki told the City Paper at the time. “As a school board member, I can promise parent engagement. I will listen. I am not a politician. I think I’ve even demonstrated with both sides of the issue that I listen to all perspectives.”
One big obstacle for Mr. Zablocki was his criminal history. In 2006, he was sentenced to four months in jail for forgery and breaking and entering with the intent to steal. In 2008, he was sentenced to 93 days in jail, held in abeyance, for third-degree retail fraud and placed on probation for nine months.
“I would actually categorize this unfortunate background as a great strength,” Mr. Zablocki told the City Paper. “I’ve overcome challenges that most people can’t overcome. And I promise to bring that courage to the school board as well.”
Mr. Zablocki publicly defended his criminal record by saying he was reformed and accused his critics of not believing in second chances.
Then came Easter.
Mr. Zablocki was arrested once again on Easter Sunday under the charge of Disorderly Conduct. Shortly afterward, Rise Up Midland issued a statement saying that Mr. Zablocki would end his run for school board and step down from the organization’s leadership.
After a few hours, however, Mr. Zablocki quickly reversed course, and said he would continue his run for a seat on the Midland Public Schools Board of Education. Ultimately, Mr. Zablocki failed to properly file to be on the ballot.
Much like his impassioned defense of his criminal past, Mr. Zablocki would post awkward and emotional comments on the social media pages of local leaders and the press. After the City Paper published that he had been arrested, Mr. Zablocki called the article “defamatory.”
“It’s clear your political intent is to destroy my public image and nothing more. I care less about my status as a public figure than I do about being able to live. And your article is cruel to both me and my children,” he said. “You disgust me. I hope you can dig deep and find the courage to remove this article.”
Fast-forward to August, and Rise Up Midland’s founder, Jacob Lewis, was also arrested and charged with jostling, assault, obstruction and resisting police after being punched unconscious at 3 Bridges Distillery. Mr. Lewis was also accused of threatening patrons of the distillery, saying he would return with a firearm, as well as threatening to “hunt down” the family members of one of the officers and kill them.
The arrests of Rise Up Midland’s founders were deeply embarrassing for the group, and moves were made quickly to distance Rise Up Midland and Messrs. Lewis and Zablocki.
“Rise Up Midland is aware of this issue and due to the circumstances Will is stepping down from any active role he has in Rise Up,” the organization said in a statement after Mr. Zablocki’s arrest.
Someone else had to run for school board. Enter Mr. Sheets.
During the Dec. 20, 2021 meeting of the Midland Public Schools Board of Education meeting, Mr. Sheets stood up to address the board during the public comment portion.
“I’ve started kind of digging into more on what you guys do in the last couple months, and kind of understanding what your responsibilities are, and listening to parents,” Mr. Sheets said. “I don’t understand it, from your perspective, because I’m not a part of it, so what I’ve decided to do is I’m gonna go ahead and take one of these positions here come November, so that way I can be on that side of the fence, because obviously there’s something that goes on in that backside that I don’t understand.”
Mr. Sheets, who owns High Definition Detailing, touted his experience as a business owner. likening customer complaints to parents communicating with M.P.S. board members. He complained that fellow parents have asked the board to address certain issues without getting a response for months.
“When a customer complains, I need to understand why they are doing that and address it. I don’t hear that being done here,” Mr. Sheets said. “I don’t know, really, whose seat I’m gonna be taking, but I’ll take whichever one I want, I’d like whichever one I can get my hands on.”
In the end, Mr. Lauderbach, perhaps the subject of the most intense criticism from supporters of Rise Up Midland, led the pack of the nine candidates running for school board. Mr. Lauderbach won 10,519 votes overall. No other candidate reached the 10,000 mark threshold.
DEVELOPING…
Michael Piwowarski contributed reporting.