An entire school board in the San Francisco Bay Area resigned this week for making disparaging comments about parents during a virtual meeting that officials did not realize was being broadcast to the public.
Four members of the Oakley Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees stepped down on Friday after protests from parents who obtained thousands of signatures on a petition calling for his resignation. This is amid increased tensions across the state over the reopening of schools.
In a letter to parents, Oakley Union District Supt. Greg Hetrick said that members of the Contra Costa County educational council would serve as provisional council members for the district until officers were selected.
“As a district, we will continue with the work we are engaged in to bring our students back to school,” said Hetrick.
The confusion started on Wednesday, during the ordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees, which was announced on the Council’s website along with a link for public membership.
“We are alone?” asked Kim Beede, one of the board members, before giving his opinion on a critic: “B-, if you’re going to call me out, I’ll f— you up. “
The other members laughed, before board chairwoman Lisa Brizendine interjected, saying it was a shame that parents “want to catch us because they want their babysitters back”
Richie Masadas added that his brother had a medical marijuana delivery service and the clientele “were parents with their children at school”, seeming to suggest that this is why parents wanted their children out of the house.
Shortly afterwards, Beede discovered that they were not as alone as she believed.
“We have the meeting open to the public now,” Beede said to the other board members.
“Nuh uh,” said Brizendine, before the screen went black.
The consequences were swift, with requests – including from the Oakley city mayor – for the council to step down.
“The parents were tuned in to see if we are going to send our kids back to school soon and, if not, why,” said Rebecca Mackowiak in the petition calling for resignations. “There has been a lack of communication from the board and this was the first communication we heard.”
Brizendine resigned first on Thursday, followed by the rest of the council the following day.
“We deeply regret the previous comments that were made at the Education Council meeting earlier this week,” said a joint statement by former Beede board members, Erica Ippolito and Masadas. “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 leadership; our comments failed on both counts, so we offer our sincere apology. “
In the same week of the Contra Costa County microphone incident, an instructor at Oxnard College was placed on administrative leave after the video of a confrontation with a hearing impaired student at a Zoom class meeting went viral.
The instructor seemed to be angry with the student for not responding. The student explained that she had hearing problems.
“She is not paying attention, she is not trying,” said the instructor, when another student tried to defend her.
The Ventura County Community College District said in a statement that it was “deeply disturbed by the behavior”.
“[The district] is opposed to any language or behavior that is offensive or harmful to anyone based on gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age or disability, ”said chairman Joshua Chancer in the statement. “The comments in the video do not reflect the district’s values of integrity and honesty in actions and words, respect and the constant pursuit of excellence.”