Members of a San Francisco-area school board are being called to resign after they were heard making derogatory remarks about parents on a Zoom call.
The remark that has perhaps gained the most attention and criticism came from the school board president, who said the parents looked at teachers as their babysitters.
“It’s really unfortunate that they want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back,” Lisa Brizendine, Oakley Union Elementary School Board president, said on the Zoom call.
Brizendine has since resigned from her position following backlash over the comments, The Washington Post reported. Other school board members are also being called to resign over their remarks.
A petition calling for members to be recalled or resign has gained more than 5,000 signatures.
Frustration over school closings and remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic has been building and building, and appeared to blow up during the call and in its aftermath.
Many students have been out of school for almost a year as they were sent to online learning last March.
The Zoom call with the San Francisco-area school board included a number of other offensive comments.
“Bitch, if you’re going to call me out, I’m going to f— you up,” another school member said toward the parents.
The school board members were discussing limiting the speaking times of parents’ comments during the meeting and apparently did not realize until near the meeting’s end that it was being seen publicly.
At that point, cameras and mics for the call were turned off.