School board member who belittled mom’s battle against obscene books now seeking ways to spam his critics

One of two Kansas school board members whose belittling of a mom concerned with obscene books in schools went viral has now suggested spamming his detractors.

Noting that he’s been getting threats and been “called terrible things online” since his speech discrediting single mom Carrie Schmidt went viral on social media platform X, Gardner Edgerton school board member Greg Chapman asked his private Facebook friends to suggest ways to funnel junk emails to his critics.

“I would like to sign them up for some things they might need in their lives (on top of needing Jesus),” Chapman posted. “Do you all have any idea where I might be able to enter their numbers and give them the same courtesy they have been giving me? I’m thinking things like car insurance quotes, sales, etc etc….send me your ideas, gotta keep myself busy somehow. Lol.”

Libs of TikTok, whose excerpts of the Aug. 12 school board meeting went viral on X – now with 2.2 million views – followed up with a post Monday decrying his move to lash back at critics:

“UPDATE: School Board member of @GardnerEdgerton who mocked a mom for exposing p**nogr*phic books in schools is asking for advice on how to spam people who reached out to him with concerns.

“Very normal professional behavior for a school board member…”

Schmidt, a single mother of two who has waged a lonely battle to rid the district’s schools of sexually explicit books, lamented Chapman’s decision to turn on his detractors.

“Mr. Chapman’s lack of professionalism for his elected board position which he opted to serve in is very concerning,” Schmidt told The Lion in a written statement

“Patrons should be respected by their elected officials and not mocked or ridiculed. His behavior off the dais [has] escalated, showing he had no remorse in his prior preplanned statement to attack me as a parent and taxpayer in the district. We deserve to have people working for us, not against us.”

Allen Vonderschmidt, a friend and defender of Schmidt’s, nonetheless said others who support her should be respectful toward Chapman. “I’ve heard that there’s been threats against him, which I think is completely inappropriate,” he said.

The Lion asked Chapman in an email whether seeking ways to spam his critics is the appropriate response by an elected official to even virulent criticism – and whether the proper response to threats is to simply report them to the proper authorities.

“Is this seriously a question?” he responded. “I went to my PERSONAL page and made a joke … to try and bring some levity to a horrible situation and get support from my friends group, like any other human. …

“You make it seem like because I’m a public servant I’m not human enough to have feelings, and struggle with the harassment I’ve received for trying to help this citizen understand that how they are going about this, is not the best way. … For trying to protect the staff that they have harassed and belittled, and to ensure age appropriate books without overly sexual content are removed from our schools. Our librarians are already doing a great job ensuring new ones don’t get ordered.”

Chapman maintains he has tried to talk with Schmidt, and his most recent outreach was rebuffed.

“I didn’t berate them, I explained that because they are using the review policy, instead of taking the opportunities they are given by the superintendent, currently our hands are tied, and we have to follow the policy which slows things down. …

“Some of the books are a no brainer and should be removed, some need a bit more discussion. If we didn’t follow our policy, they and others, would be just as upset, like when I motioned to have the Bible retained without going through the policy, because the person who put in the review publicly stated they did it to bring attention to what this citizen is doing, and because I am a Christian and would never vote against the Living Word of God.”

While maintaining he didn’t berate Schmidt in his Aug. 12 prepared speech, Chapman did insinuate at the time that she was nearly solely responsible for the district’s 42 book review petitions, and suggested she got pleasure from reading from the racy books in public. His email to The Heartlander seems to stand by both assertions:

“I have genuinely tried to help, and the Board has worked behind the scenes to get things moving as well. This citizen knows that they are causing the slow down, they are on the committee that deals with this, so it’s disingenuous for them to keep shouting at the podium, that it’s moving too slow. It also leads to the appearance, that maybe they are only doing it this way, because they enjoy the attention they receive.”

On the contrary, Schmidt told The Lion that her treatment by the board Aug. 12 was reminiscent of the domestic violence she endured from a past boyfriend.

“This was pretty traumatic. I’m not going to lie,” she says.

Chapman was one of two male board members who appeared to belittle Schmidt, whose microphone also was turned off while she addressed the Gardner Edgerton school board. At one point, President Tom Reddin interrupted Schmidt’s reading of raunchy library book excerpts to say they weren’t appropriate for minors to hear – derisively calling her concerns a “performance.”