In a recording of the meeting posted anonymously on YouTube, the superintendent and board members are heard discussing the meeting’s agenda before board member Kim Beede says, “Are we alone?” Beede then says to other board members, apparently in reference to a parent’s social media post, “B * tch, if you’re going to call me out, I’m going to fuck you. Sorry! That’s just me.”
The then chairman of the board, Lisa Brizendine, joined the conversation, saying: parents “forget that there are real people on the other side of the letters they are writing”. She added: “It is very unfortunate that they want to tease us because they want their nannies back.”
During the video conference, board member Richie Masadas suggested that some parents wanted their children back to school so they could smoke marijuana in their homes.
“We deeply regret the comments made at the Education Council meeting earlier this week,” the statement said. “As trustees, we realize that it is our responsibility to model the conduct we expect from our students and staff, and it is our obligation to build trust in the district’s leadership; our comments have failed in both respects, so we offer our sincerest apology.”
The wave of shock and disappointment prompted community members to create a Change.org petition demanding the board resign. Oakley Mayor Sue Higgins also asked the board to resign in her statement on Friday.
‘I don’t need a babysitter’, says the father
The member of the audience who posted the recording on YouTube on Thursday wrote in the video description that the meeting had been announced on the council’s website, which also provided login information.
“I joined the meeting a few minutes before I started recording,” said the poster.
The author of the post said that he did not want to conduct any interviews, noting that his only purpose in posting the clip was “for our local public school to be run by better people”.
Katie Patterson, a member of the OUESD Parent-Teacher Association, told KPIX that it was Brizendine’s suggestion that parents only want “nannies” that pissed her off.
“I don’t need a babysitter, I’m a housewife,” said Patterson, who has two children in the school district.
“I am raising a 10-year-old boy with special needs and having him at home during this pandemic, while I have two jobs to support my family, has been a great stress,” said her statement, in part.
“I suffer from many of the same things that parents are going through … my comment was insensitive and unnecessary and so I am sorry,” she said.
On Sunday, there were five openings listed on the OUESD Board of Trustees website.
Meanwhile, Contra Costa County Education Council President Annette Lewis appointed herself and her colleague Mike Maxwell, a member of Contra Costa County Council, to the OUESD council. Hetrick’s letter cited part of the state education code, which allows the city education council to appoint members to the district council until new ones are selected.
“I look forward to working with the OUESD community to determine the best course of action to fill these vacancies with people who will represent the best interests of students, families, teachers and school staff,” said Lewis in a statement on Friday.