Albemarle supervisor cautions against ‘political vitriol’ after threats to school board member

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Albemarle County School Board Member Allison Spillman is at the center of her own controversy, surrounding a social media post she made, defending transgender students at Albemarle County Schools, including one of her own children.

Critics say Spillman went too far though, when she compared a group set to speak to students, with other forms of hate speech.

The online reaction to what she said is now being used as a warning, by an Albemarle County supervisor, about the costs of speaking out publicly.

“She has received thousands of -- to her personal cell phone, on her personal email -- threats, harassing texts, statements threatening her children.” Scottsville District Supervisor Mike Pruitt said. “It is a monstrous reminder of the way that the kind of current moment of intense vitriol in our politics can lead to people’s personal lives and the ways that it can deeply chill.”

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