Questionable Pledges from a Questionable Cop.
Cathy Kennedy-Reyes is a Republican running for the Washoe County School District board of trustees. With 21 years of law enforcement experience and no experience as an educator, she took the "Republican Women of Reno" pledge, pledging to push 13 points that are typically counter to a well-rounded education, transphobic, homophobic, and frankly ungrounded; additionally she added, "educated, NOT indoctrinate."
While she might believe in her "Devine" cause despite having zero experience as an educator, she doesn't have the best track record as a law enforcement officer. In 1997 as a CBP Border Patrol Agent, Kennedy-Reyes found herself in a dispute over unauthorized overtime. This led to her filing an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint and a lawsuit against Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. In his motion for a summary judgement Kennedy-Reyes' track record came to light for consideration. She alleges she was discriminated against; however the court found, “there is little more than Plaintiff's own conclusory assertions of retaliation embodied in her own declaration and testimony,” and the case was dismissed.
What did come to light was accusations of Kennedy-Reyes driving her issued law enforcement vehicle in a dangerous manner, improperly crossing into Mexico with her child, and a letter signed by five K-9 officers citing 23 areas of serious problems and requesting her removal from their team; all of these facts resulted in her being removed from her team and her shift and being reassigned.
To read a summary of the Kennedy-Reyes' failed lawsuit, click here.
On June 6th, 2022, Kennedy-Reyes took it a step further. As the WCSD continues to tackle sex education curriculum, she made public comment with Melanie Sutton, and Colleen Westlake with the RGJ reporting on their attendance and their use of their public comment time to promote their campaigns.
Per the RGJ, some of the public commenters took it too far as they aggressively addressed individuals serving on the SHARE committee instead of the SHARE committee as a whole.
