In a recent letter entitled “AI crosses the line in school board race,” Bob Ayers says a campaign mailer “crossed the line” in the San Dieguito school board race. Read his piece closely, and you’ll find he never says the mailer was wrong about anything that matters.
The mailer asked one question: “Who is more qualified to be a school board trustee in San Dieguito?” Then it answered it. On one side was David Miyashiro, a career educator who has been a teacher, a principal, an assistant superintendent in Encinitas, and for more than a decade superintendent of a large San Diego County school district. On the other was Amy Flicker, labeled “Non-profit Volunteer.”
That label isn’t a stereotype someone made up. Ms. Flicker chose it. It’s how she describes herself on the ballot, and it was the best she could come up with. Asked to tell voters what qualifies her, she chose “volunteer” because she had nothing more relevant or substantial to offer.
Volunteering is honorable. Many parents in this district give countless hours to PTAs and committees, and our schools are better for it. But a school board trustee approves a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, negotiates labor contracts, hires and evaluates a superintendent, and answers to families when things go wrong. Those are executive jobs. On that scale, the contrast between these two candidates isn’t close, and voters are entitled to hear it plainly.
The mailer said so in a single image. It was openly labeled as AI-generated, as California law requires. No one was fooled. It made no false claim about her record. It simply put her own ballot designation next to his.
Notice what has happened since. The mailer drew no response about qualifications. Instead, it drew a news release from the San Dieguito Faculty Association, the teachers’ union that endorsed Ms. Flicker, followed by opinion pieces calling the mailer “sexist” and “Trump-style.” Mr. Ayers even calls Mr. Miyashiro “her Republican opponent” in a race that is officially nonpartisan.
When a candidate’s defense of her qualifications comes from the union she would be negotiating against as a trustee, voters should ask a simple question: whose interests would she represent at the bargaining table? Ms. Flicker herself told the Torrey Pines student newspaper that her understanding of teacher contracts is “cursory” and that she has “never been in them formally.” The union’s eagerness to fight this battle for her tells you a great deal about the relationship.
There is also a question of temperament. School board meetings in San Dieguito are not gentle. Trustees face angry parents, hard budget choices, and public criticism every month. A candidate who treats an accurate comparison on a campaign mailer as an outrage should ask herself how she will handle that.
Mr. Ayers asks what would happen if a student made an AI caricature of a classmate. That comparison doesn’t hold. This was not a student mocking a peer. It was a candidate for public office drawing a factual contrast with an opponent in an election, clearly labeled, about the one question voters must decide.
San Dieguito families deserve a board that can manage a large district, negotiate fairly with every employee group, and keep students at the center. They deserve a trustee who has done the job, not one who is learning it on their dime.
The choice really is obvious.
Courtney Jones is a Del Mar resident and parent of a San Dieguito Union High School District graduate and a current district high school student.
