- July 24, 2026
Dear Editor:
Jill Woolbright, District 1 School Board candidate, responded to a previous letter addressing and critiquing her efforts to ban books while a board member five years ago. She replied that her effort to ensure books were age appropriate was never “about preventing people from reading books.”
However, that reply was disingenuous in need of a fact check and a flashback to her 2021 presence on the Board. Not only did she want to prevent a book that she personally thought was inappropriate and pornographic from being read i.e., banned, she very dramatically filed a criminal complaint with the local sheriff accusing school district staff and the Flagler Schools superintendent of a crime for the mere presence of the offending LGBTQ book in the district.
In essence, she wanted the staff members, and who knows, maybe the book, to be jailed for pushing what she thought was pornography. In effect she tried to weaponize law enforcement to ban a library book. The book, however, was actually on the district reading list and was a best seller young adult memoir.
Woolbright’s actions made national news and not in a good way. It was an embarrassment and put Flagler County at the epicenter of the ultra-conservative movement to ban books. Needless to say, our local sheriff found insufficient criminality to lock anybody up.
So, contrary to her reply, it was obvious she was indeed preventing the reading of the book. And it’s fair to say that it was a foolhardy and irrational endeavor and of course divisive. And that’s a clear indicator that voters should be reluctant to return her to the School Board.
Beth McGuire
Palm Coast
