California parents are calling for the resignation of the Oakley Unified Elementary School District Board of Trustees after board members made disparaging remarks about parents in an online meeting.
In a video obtained by Fox News, school board members can be heard cursing and claiming that parents with children at home are using marijuana at increased rates. The board members believed they were alone and were unaware that they were broadcasting the meeting live to parents.
In the video, board member Kim Beede can be heard cursing in response to a comment a parent had posted about her. “Are we alone?” Beede asked. “B***h, if you’re gonna call me out, I’m gonna f**k you up. Sorry, that’s just me.”
“They forget there’s real people on the other side of those letters that they’re writing,” said board member Lisa Brizendine. “They don’t know what we know behind the scenes, and it’s really unfortunate they want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back.”
“I totally hear that because my brother had a delivery service for medical marijuana. The clientele were parents with their kids in school,” board member Richie Masadas said.
Parents started a Change.org petition calling on the board to resign, citing their “egregious behavior.” The parents are calling for resignations instead of a recall vote — which they are prepared to fight for — because such a vote would cost the district money that “should be going to kids.”
“They should no longer represent the parents, teachers, and children in this school district,” the petition reads.
The school district’s superintendent Greg Hetrick, who attended the virtual meeting but did not make any obscene comments, apologized in a statement for the board’s actions.
“I will not make excuses for what happened or why it happened,” Hetrick said. “I am responsible and accountable and I am truly sorry for what took place … I know that our students deserve better from us.”
The comments were made as many parents in California — and across the nation — are fighting to reopen schools. The Biden White House has continuously moved the goalpost on how they plan to achieve reopenings.
During a CNN town hall on Tuesday night, Biden contradicted Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s statements about the administration’s goal of reopening schools. Psaki originally told the White House press pool that the Biden administration’s goal was to “have the majority of schools, so that’s more than 50 percent, open by day 100 of [Biden’s] presidency. And that means some teaching in classrooms. So at least one day a week, hopefully, it’s more.”
This statement appears contradictory to Biden’s campaign pledge “to bring the coronavirus pandemic under enough control to open most of the nation’s schools” during his first 100 days in office.
At the town hall, Biden said that Psaki’s claims were wrong. “That’s what was reported. That’s not true,” Biden said. “That was a mistake in the communications.”