Tennessee School Board Member Censured for Calling a Student ‘Hot’
“When I mentioned she was hot, I meant she was on a roll, it was nothing to do with her appearance”
How stupid does a person have to be to do this? He is a grown man.
NBC News reports:
Tennessee school board member who called student ‘hot’ is censured
A Tennessee county school board voted unanimously Wednesday to censure a member who told a student, “God, you’re hot” at a public board meeting last week.
The Washington County Board of Education approved the censure during an emergency meeting, following public calls to remove board member Keith Ervin and Superintendent Jerry Boyd.
In a board meeting April 2, which was livestreamed, Ervin told a female high school student next to him: “God, you’re hot. Do you know that? Damn. Where do you go to school at?”
The girl, who is a student member of the board, had just wrapped up asking questions about career and technical education when Ervin put his arm around her and hugged her from the side and made the comment.
Some other board members at the table lightly laughed, and the meeting went on.
A school board censure is a formal condemnation of a member’s conduct but doesn’t remove a person from office.
At Wednesday’s meeting, several locals spoke about their anger and disappointment and called for Ervin to step down and for the board to take accountability.
Ervin read a prepared speech in which he said he hadn’t intended to offend anyone and claimed that his “hot” comment was misconstrued.
“Obviously I’ve seen the clip. Look, I get it, if that’s all you’re seeing, I understand why people are reacting the way they are,” he said. “But that’s not the full conversation, not even close. Last week at the board meeting I wanted to congratulate a student who did a great job sharing thoughts with all that was in the room.”
“When I mentioned she was hot, I meant she was on a roll, it was nothing to do with her appearance,” he continued. “As a lifetime supporter of David Crockett High school, I was especially surprised to learn that’s where she went to school.
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Comments
“Where do you go to school at?”
He should be declared ineligible to serve on a school board just for that.
I agree. It ain’t right. He ain’t got no business being around them kids.
Moron and creep. Shouldn’t have anything to do with schools or children. Look, I don’t care if you are in Nowheresville Tennessee or NYC, you should know better as an adult not to say something like that and then hug a child who is not your own. People’s brains do cause them to say dumb things. I get that. But it begs the question of how often this moron says (or thinks)”You’re hot” to women. It came out verbally which means that it was top of mind for him and there was no filter. That board should have launched him from the organization. His excuse is lame. You might say “You were on fire there”, but the proper statement is, “Well said, nice job.” Then shake their hand.
To be fair, there was no hair sniffing. He knew enough not to act Presidential.
We could wish these types of behavior are cause for dismissal. But unless TN has very different state policies than here in PA, you can only act on cutting someone from the board if they commit a felony. It may take a few years, but at least eventually you can vote him off….unless he has some honor and quits. Too bad we have some here with no honor and have to wait for the next election.