School board candidate defends threatening email amid community backlash

A Whitefish School Board trustee candidate is standing behind a profanity-laced email she sent to the school board last year in which she says the board is full of “morons and child abusers.”

Jenny Paatalo emailed the letter to the trustees on Aug. 12, 2021, following the board’s decision to require masks for younger students and recommending them for older grades amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the email, which Paatalo wrote prior to entering the race for the school board this spring, she uses crude phrases that contain vulgar language. The Pilot obtained the original copy of the email from the Whitefish School District to verify its authenticity after it surfaced on social media last week.

Paatalo in the email rages about the mask decision following the special board meeting. She calls the school trustees, “cowards, ass kissers and science deniers,” and says they are “all human garbage.” Later in the letter Paatalo writes “May you burn in hell you Nazi scum. I hope you contract real sickness and die.”

Several in the community have voiced they feel the letter was threatening to the sitting board members, especially referring to Paatalo’s contentious final sentence in all caps.

“F✽✽K OFF AND DIE,” Pataalo wrote.

When asked about the letter, Paatalo told the Pilot last week that she wrote it immediately following the Aug. 12 board meeting when emotions were high after she claims the trustees ignored the pleas of parents regarding the masking issue.

“I was overcome with a sense of powerlessness, when the board voted to strip control over children's bodies from parents,” Paatalo says. “It is certainly understandable that people may not like my choice of words, but in contrast to my choice of words, masking is child abuse and unacceptable.”

Paatalo also told the Pilot that she believes the outrage over a letter written eight months ago is really only about people supporting the “agenda” of the current school board and hoping to alter the results of the school election.

“The outrage is feigned and organized by people who attempt to sway the results of elections the only way they know how, by screaming really loud,” Paatalo expressed. “It's not about my letter at all, it's about maintaining control of the school board. The social media fever pitch can only indicate intentions they have with the direction of the school, and how desperately they desire to cancel anyone who might oppose that agenda.”

THE EMAIL outraged many Whitefish residents as it spread on community social media pages last week as commenters expressed disgust for the letter and the choice of words in it.

The Pilot also received several emails and calls from concerned citizens after they saw the email, saying they believed the letter was threatening and spewed hate.

“This behavior without accountability disqualifies any person from deserving the honor of holding public office, and our Whitefish community needs to make it very clear we do not tolerate or reward this type of behavior,” a letter to the editor from JoBeth Blair states.

But, among the disdain expressed for Paatalo on Facebook pages last week, she also had support for her letter and her cause for writing it.

A good number of people who said they were parents in the district commented that she was brave and praised her for standing up for children in Whitefish — no matter the nature of the delivery of her beliefs.

One commenter called Paatalo a “warrior mom who’s fighting for our kids,” and went on to say “we need a leader to stand against the corruption.” Another comment in support of Paatalo says, “I’ll take a little bad language from someone willing to fight for our kids.”

Paatalo stands by her letter and says she wishes people showed this much concern when the board imposed a mask mandate on younger students last August. Paatalo will continue to run for a seat on the board, stating, “With all due respect, for the sake of the children the community better pull it together quick and figure out how to get over my letter.”

Paatalo also headed up an unsuccessful attempt to recall all seven school board trustees last fall following the mask requirements implemented by the board.

During that time board members told the Pilot that they had received threatening messages from some parents and Flathead Valley residents. This letter appears to back up those statements and the contentious backlash that the board faced during the pandemic.

ANOTHER TRUSTEE candidate Bobee Hyland originally campaigned alongside Paatalo but has since tried to distance herself after the email surfaced. Hyland received backlash as well.

In a statement she posted to her campaign page, she says being fairly new to Whitefish she had been introduced to Paatalo by people who believed the two shared similar beliefs when it came to children’s education. Hyland stated she does not support the letter in any way and is running for a seat on the board because she is determined to fight for kids and be a voice for unheard parents.

“When Mrs. Paatalo’s email surfaced I was shocked, horrified and appalled. This type of behavior and language promotes hatred and division as well as angst, and it should never be tolerated,” Hyland said in her statement.

In addition to Paatalo and Hyland, three other candidates are running for two seats on the board in this election. Two incumbents, Darcy Schellinger and Elizabeth Pitman, as well as Leanette Kearns, are on the ballot. Candidates answered questions in an article that appeared in the Pilot on April 20 and on the Pilot’s website at www.whitefishpilot.com.

The school board election takes place on May 3 at the District Board Room, 600 East Second Street. The election is in person this year and the polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 3 for residents to cast their vote. Ballots for those registered as absentee should have already hit the mailboxes in Whitefish and are due back to the Whitefish School District Office by 8 p.m. on Election Day.