A California school board member resigned after she appeared to comment during a public video meeting mocking parents calling to reopen schools.
Oakley Union elementary school district superintendent Greg Hetrick confirmed the resignation of former board chairman Lisa Brizendine to Fox News.
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Hetrick apologized on Thursday for board members’ “truly inappropriate comments”, made during a virtual meeting on Wednesday, after a group posted a video of the meeting that appeared to show board members complaining about parents who want parents to teachers go back to classrooms.
“The comments made were not in line with our vision and are definitely not what any of us represent as leaders. I know we have lost the trust of the community. I will not make excuses for what happened or why it happened,” said Hetrick Fox News in a statement.
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He continued, “I have been and remain committed to working together for the betterment of students, staff and the entire school community in the Oakley Union Elementary School District.”
Hetrick did not comment further on Brizendine’s resignation.
The recorded meeting on Wednesday night was posted on social media and shows board members who seemed to believe the meeting was private. Brizendine seemed to scoff at parents who “want their babysitters back”.
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“They forget that there are real people on the other side of the letters they are writing. … They don’t know what we know behind the scenes and it’s really a shame that they want to pick us up because they want their nannies back,” she said. Other board members moved on, seeming to ignore their parents’ concerns.
The video circulated online after being posted by an account called “Reopen California Schools”, requesting an online petition for board members to resign.
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Parents across the United States are lobbying for their children to learn from their classroom teachers again, as some students face the possibility of completing an entire school year without entering the classroom, in addition to the months they missed out on. end of the 2019-2020 school year.
Meanwhile, the White House is facing scrutiny to change the language around President Biden’s 100-day pressure to return students to classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Evie Fordham of Fox News contributed to this report.