Jennifer Nichols Should be Nowhere Near a School Board

I’ve recently read and heard some crazy allegations against Jennifer Nichols, and I looked into the claims. Then the Sun and News’s October 22, 2022’s edition came out, and I have some serious questions and concerns myself. In that edition of The Sun and News (TSN), pages 1, 6-8, Caledonia’s school board candidates were asked TSN’s “series of questions to each candidates (sic) to inform voters on where they stand on the issues.” On page 7, when asked why she was running for school board and what her priorities were, Jennifer Nichols answered, “Over the past couple of years, we have seen parents and community members lose trust in their local public schools. We felt unheard and our children suffered because of it. My priority is to build back the trust that was lost during COVID by being a positive voice for medical freedom, family values, parental rights, and educational excellence.”

She has a long history of being dishonest, as evidenced by the dates in the following pictures, the fact that she didn’t file for divorce from her first husband, Eric Sowers, until March 15, 2019, at least 3 years after she began sleeping with her employee at the Caledonia Vision Center, Eric Archambault, who was also married at the time.

She not only carried on a multi-year affair with a married man while she was also married AND HIS EMPLOYER, but bonded him out after he was charged with 4 counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the first degree (molesting his daughter), one count of attempted CSC first degree, and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes, a total of SIX FELONIES.

How can she run on a platform of “family values” and claim she wants to “build back the trust” when she’s not even honest or trustworthy with her own husband or kids, or the other two guys she was carrying on full-on affairs with outside of and in addition to her first marriage? She even stayed in a relationship with the still-married Eric Archambault (who was her subordinate at Cal Vision Center) after he had been charged with repeatedly molesting his own child, but we should trust her judgment when it comes to our own children and their education and safety? “We felt unheard and our children suffered because of it.” I’m sure the Archambault family would have a lot to say about that, as well as her thoughts about parental rights. Jen not only carried on an affair with a married man, but Eric had Jen listed as a creditor he owed $1,482.09 to in court documents filed 7/16/2018, 8 months before she even filed for divorce from her first husband, Eric Sowers.

I’m sure Eric Archambault’s daughter felt “unheard,” and I have no doubt she’s also “suffered” from the selfish actions of her Dad and his secret girlfriend. Does Jen think the role she played as the sidepiece qualifies her as an authority on children’s suffering? Clearly, she harbors no concern about parental responsibilities to your children to not put your children through life-changing and traumatic experiences you can prevent. Where was her concern about her OWN children and their physical and mental health while she was carrying on a 3+ year affair with her own employee, even AFTER his conviction for multiple counts of molesting his own daughter? Do Jen’s daughters get that same lack of consideration that Eric #2’s did? Jen’s current husband, Justin Nichols, was also in a relationship with Jen while she was still married to her first husband Eric Sowers, and while she was cheating on Eric #1 with Eric #2, Eric Archambault. Justin was the person who stole copyrighted property from the Children’s Advocacy Center, including the “Kids Have Rights” instructional videos, which either Jen or Justin then placed the stolen clips on the Cal United webpage, making false and outrageous claims along with them. They were eventually forced to remove the content after a ridiculous back-and-forth with the Center and legal threats were made. Covertly recording a copyrighted video on your cell phone to chop up and manipulate for use as propaganda for a campaign website doesn’t make me think “educational excellence,” as Jen claims as one of her priorities as a potential school board member. It does, however, resemble the same intentionally misleading pattern of behavior shown by Jennifer Nichols since at least 2016, when she began lying to her first husband and children as she began her affair with Eric #2, and eventually Justin. On her “Jennifer Nichols for Caledonia School Board” facebook page, she shared a post on October 13 regarding Angela Rigas’ public endorsement and the controversy surrounding Rigas’ “defund the schools” platform.

In this post, Jen states that she is “proud to be supported publicly - “endorsed” - Angela Rigas,” and that she “will not ‘denounce’ her over this issue,” and that she thinks “there can be a fair system where money follows students and increases access to alternative schools for more families.” One of my concerns is in regard to the hypocrisy exhibited by her to not denounce the idea of defunding our already significantly underfunded schools as she took over $131,000 in completely forgiven PPP loans from the same federal government some of the schools’ funding also comes from. She doesn’t want our schools to keep what funding they currently have, but it’s okay for her, her husband, and one of her running mates (Tim Morris) to?

Another concern I have in this regard is her conduct as a business owner. She not only opened herself up to liability personally, but also professionally as an Optometrist and business owner when she began a sexual relationship with an employee. The recklessness and absolute disregard for the future of the business and the rest of her employees’ livelihoods is a huge red flag for me. If she can’t even make sound business decisions that could ruin her professionally, while risking her license to practice at the same time, there’s no way I would ever trust her to make decisions on the school board for which she has no personal liability. She’s already shown her disregard for children, both hers and others’ through her past decisions and conduct, so I wouldn’t expect “doing right by our kids” to be enough of a reason she would ever put our schools ahead of anything that might benefit her personally as a board member.