A Northern California School Board President resigned after insulting parents who want their children to return to the classroom. Now, there is a push for the remainder of the Board, who joined in, to follow her lead.
The Oakley Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees didn’t realize their meeting was open to the public when they began a round robin of insults about parents whose children are struggling with remote learning.
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Lack Of Communication From School Board
Parents claim there has been a lack of communication from the School Board regarding returning to the classroom. They were tuning into learn information.
Instead, they heard insults directed at them.
Superintendent Greg Hetrick mentioned a proposal limiting public meeting comments to three minute voicemail clips made in advance so the Board didn’t have to interact with the public during the meetings.
It also cuts people off at three minutes even if they are still speaking.
School Board Trustees applauded the idea.
The irony is that they want to use technology to help shut out the public and stifle dissent while they clearly didn’t know how to properly use technology themselves.
They were unknowingly broadcasting their comments.
Trustee Kim Beede even attempted to make sure the public couldn’t hear them. She said “Are we alone? If you’re going to call me out. I’m going to f— you up.”
The Board took aim at parents who write letters about the need to reopen the schools.
Children are struggling with learning and mental health issues from online learning and the lack of social interaction. However, the School Board doesn’t want to be bothered with reading them.
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“They don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. It’s really unfortunate they want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back,” said now former President Lisa Brizendine.
School Board Caught Red Handed
Trustee Richie Masadas chimed in by linking frustrated parents to drug use.
“My brother had a delivery service for medical marijuana and his clientele were parents of kids at school,” he said to laughter from his fellow Board Members.
The group knew that this was unprofessional and inflammatory behavior.
As soon as it was discovered the meeting was public, the stunned trustees knew they were in trouble.
They were caught red handed insulting and in on case apparently threatening parents of the students of their school district.
1) When officials at the Oakley Union Elem. School district thought they were meeting privately, they used profanity to insult & threaten parents upset by the district’s prolonged school closures.
Here’s when they realized their mtg was being broadcast to the public.
“Uh, oh.” pic.twitter.com/OXbHWq9FMy
— Bigad Shaban (@BigadShaban) February 18, 2021
Video of the School Board meeting can be watched below. The insults really begin at the 5 minute mark.
A Change.org petition has been launched demanding the rest of the School Board resign. At this writing there are almost 5,000 signers to the petition which is the goal.
Parents have been leaving comments, with one stating:
These people should NOT represent our children who have been affected since this all started a year ago. The need to resign or be terminated immediately!
And: ‘My kids deserve better than this violent and uncaring bunch of bullies.’
The children and parents certainly do deserve better than what they heard on the hot mic!