Recently, local news outlets– including FOX 5 San Diego– broke coverage of a controversial campaign flyer sent out by David Miyashiro, the current Cajon Valley Union School District superintendent and a candidate for the San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) Area 1 trustee seat.
The mailer places a deepfake image of his opponent, Amy Flicker, in an old-fashioned bake-sale setting and labels it “Non-profit volunteer,” side-by-side with Miyashiro seated behind a school board dais. That image is labeled “District superintendent.” The flyer asks who is more qualified to serve on the San Dieguito Board, then declares, “The choice is obvious.”
While media outlets seem more interested in discussing the use of artificial intelligence in election cycles, I believe they are missing the real issue.
Miyashiro’s flyer is a textbook example of misogyny. It is irrelevant that he included the mandatory small-print disclosure noting the ad was “generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence.” The true offense is that he weaponized these digital tools—tools he openly champions for students to use—to generate a demeaning, sexist caricature. AI did not invent this trope; it merely served as an efficient vehicle to diminish a woman’s worth. Miyashiro, not the technology, is squarely to blame.
As a mother and veteran school leader, I reject Miyashiro’s regressive “bake-sale” caricature. Having served as a local PTA president and an SDUHSD trustee, I know firsthand the immense work required to run local schools—and I stand firmly against this deliberate attempt to marginalize a woman’s leadership experience.
Volunteers—primarily women—are the engine of our public schools. Yes, baked goods are occasionally sold, but supporting schools also involves strategic planning, budgeting, communications, public speaking, networking, legal compliance and management skills.
Especially in our community, volunteers often bring advanced degrees, professional expertise and countless unpaid hours to build the village that supports all of our children. There is deep, undeniable value in this leadership. Reducing Flicker’s civic dedication to a cheap punchline minimizes her real contributions to our community and schools, and is profoundly insulting to all women.
In stark contrast to the flyer’s artificial imagery, Flicker’s actual record of public service spans more than a decade of managing school budgets, education policy and civic governance, including serving as PTA president for both the Encinitas Union School District (EUSD) and SDUHSD, and as an executive board member for the North Coastal Council of PTAs. She also advocated on behalf of PTAs in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
What is most concerning to me is that this casual disparagement comes directly from a sitting superintendent.
Here we have a professional administrator seeking a seat on our school board, actively asking our community to trust him to oversee the implementation of artificial intelligence inside our classrooms—the very educational tools he so flippantly manipulated against a respected member of our community. More than ironic, it signals a profound failure of leadership.
But unfortunately, the mistreatment of women in public life is not a series of isolated incidents—fleeting, localized flashpoints solved by a simple apology. Rather, it is a systemic pattern kept alive every time we allow dismissive tropes to go unchallenged.
The ugly truth becomes especially clear when it plays out in local politics, like Miyashiro’s campaign flyer, or on a national stage like comedian Shane Gillis’ deeply offensive recent “Saturday Night Live” monologue. Both degrade women to score a cheap, transactional gain. Regardless of whether the motivation is late-night laughs or school board votes, we cannot afford to look the other way—especially when it involves prominent men of influence.
As someone who has sat on the same dais Miyashiro aspires to occupy, I know the weight of the decisions made in that room. If elected, he will be charged with ensuring a safe, fair work and learning environment for female teachers, staff, and students across the district. Does he view them through the same dismissive lens that he views his opponent? Does he believe their contributions are inherently less valuable than his own? In my opinion, Miyashiro’s patriarchal mindset disqualifies him from serving our award-winning, highly ranked schools.
As a parent, I want all of my children to know that their worth can never be reduced to a cheap punchline simply to elevate someone else’s status. No more deflections. No more excuses. It is time for our community to draw a line in the sand and unequivocally refuse to accept this, or any other form of, patronizing behavior. It is time to look much closer at the character of our leaders. After all, if we truly want to educate our children with integrity and genuine intelligence, we must hold candidates for public office—especially career educators like Miyashiro—to the standard of the leaders, equals and men we need them to be.
To me, the only thing obvious here is an urgent need for accountability.
Katrina Young is a former trustee of the San Dieguito Union High School District.
