The entire school board in California resigned after leaders were caught making disparaging remarks about parents at a virtual board meeting.
The president and three members of Oakley Union Elementary School District (OUESD) Board of Trustees had stepped down, after apparently believing they were speaking privately in the moments before the meeting.
“They want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back,” said President Lisa Brizendine during the Wednesday Zoom meeting.
She continued to stress that parents “forget that there’s real people on the other side of those letters that they’re writing.”
“It’s very unfortunate that they want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back.”
Board trustee Kim Beede first asked if they are alone, before launching into a tirade.
“B*tch, if you’re gonna call me out, I’m gonna f**k you up. Sorry!” Beede said.
“That’s just me.”
Meanwhile, board trustee Richie Masadas suggested that some parents only wanted their children back in school so they could smoke marijuana at home.
“My brother had a delivery service for medical marijuana and his clientele were parents with their kids at school,” said Masadas.
Superintendent Greg Hetrick confirmed their resignations on Friday and presented the letters of the newly-resigned board members, in which one says they were stepping down to “help facilitate the healing process.”
“We deeply regret the comments that were made in the meeting of the Board of Education earlier this week,” the statement wrote.
“As trustees, we realize it is our responsibility to model the conduct that we expect of our students and staff, and it is our obligation to build confidence in District leadership; our comments failed you in both regards, and for this we offer our sincerest apology.”
“Last night at the Oakley Union Elementary School District Regular Board Meeting there were unfortunate and truly inappropriate comments made that were heard by many,” he continued.
“These comments are not typical and more importantly they are not what the community should expect from our school district.”