An entire San Francisco Bay Area school board this week thanked for the derogatory remarks 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 by Friday after a scream from parents who received thousands of signatures on a petition asking for their resignation. It comes amid heightened tensions in the state regarding the reopening of schools.
In a letter to parents, Oakley Union District Supt. Greg Hetrick said the contra-provincial education councilors will serve as interim councilors for the district until official members are elected.
“As a district, we will continue the work of bringing our students back to school,” Hetrick said.
The problems began on Wednesday during the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees, which was announced on the board’s website, along with a link for the public to join.
“Are we alone?” Kim Beede, one of the councilors, questioned before addressing a critic: “B— if you’re going to call me, I’m going to f— you up. ”
The other members laughed before President Lisa Brizendine introduced the council and called it a pity that parents “want to choose us because they want their babysitters.”
Richie Masadas then added that his brother had a delivery service for medical marijuana, and that the customers were ‘parents with their children at school’, and it seems that this is why parents want their children out of the house.
Shortly afterwards, Beede learned that they were not as alone as she believed.
“We are currently opening the meeting to the public,” Beede told the other board members.
“Nuh uh,” Brizendine said before the screen went black.
The fallout was swift, with a call – including from the mayor of Oakley – for the board to resign.
“Parents are set to hear if we will send our children back to school soon and if not, why,” Rebecca Mackowiak said in the petition saying they should be thanked. “There was a lack of communication from the board and that was the first message we heard.”
Brizendine only resigned on Thursday, followed by the rest of the board the next day.
“We deplore the earlier comments made earlier this week during the meeting of the Board of Education,” reads a joint statement from former board members Beede, Erica Ippolito and Masadas. “As trustees, we realize that it is our responsibility to model the behaviors we expect from our students and staff, and it is our duty to build trust in district leadership; our remarks have failed you in both respects, and therefore we sincerely apologize to you. “
The same week as the hot microphone incident in Contra Costa County, a permanent instructor at Oxnard College was placed on administrative leave after a video of a confrontation with a hard-of-hearing student went viral during a class meeting.
The instructor seems to get angry with the student for not answering. The student explained that she is hard of hearing.
“She’s not paying attention, she’s trying,” the instructor said when another student tried to defend her.
Ventura County Community College District said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned about the behavior.”
“[The district] is opposed to any language or conduct that is offensive or harmful to anyone based on gender, ethnicity, religion, gender orientation, age or disability, ”said Joshua Chancer, chairman of the council, in the statement. “Comments in the video do not reflect the district’s values of integrity and honesty in action and word, respect and the constant pursuit of excellence.”