Board removes, censures president
Hofkin refuses to resign amid uproar over Facebook posts about state official
Responding to a social media post by the Upper Perkiomen School Board president many considered to be derogatory to transgender people, the board removed Raeann Hofkin as board president Thursday night and voted unanimously to censure her.
Although Hofkin voted in favor of the censure, and for a motion to issue a board statement indicating her post did not represent board views, she voted against her removal as president.
The uproar focused on a Facebook post, since removed, that showed a photo of Pennsylvania State Health Secretary Rachel Levine, who is transgender, and was linked to a news article about Gov. Tom Wolf’s reaction to calls for early openings of businesses closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Hofkin re-posted the link and wrote “spoken like a true dicktator.”
Calling community reaction to her post and calls for her to resign from the board “a witch hunt,” Hofkin refused to apologize and said her comment was directed at Wolf, not Levine.
However she offered no explanation for another instance in which she re-posted a statement that reads: A “reporter really needs to ask Dr. Levine ‘if a male can identify as a female, why can’t a bar identify as a grocery store?’”
To this, Hofkin added, “Love this. Or even an adult identify as a toddler.”
“I don’t believe I made any offensive statement to the LGBT community, but I guess the squeaky wheel is enough to make this witch hunt a success,” Hokfin said prior to the vote to remove her
as president.
In a statement at the beginning of Thursday night’s meeting, Hofkin addressed the controversy, saying “I have a reputation for sharing hard truths.”
She acknowledged the community uproar over the posts had become “a distraction” to the board and the administration and added, “it won’t happen again. I would hope we can put politics aside and move forward in unity.”
But her statement did little to mollify board members or the more than 30 community members who spoke on the matter for two hours, many of whom pointed out that in her Facebook and Twitter accounts, Hofkin rarely “puts politics aside.”
“I am extraordinarily disappointed,” Vice President Mike Elliott said of Hofkin’s actions. He said a student survey showed “23.6 percent of kids don’t feel safe in our buildings” and that 24 percent say they have experienced bullying.
He noted the district has been rocked by recent student suicides and that the district has a statement of “inclusion and acceptance” posted on its website.
The statement reads, in
part: “Over the past year, our district has re-committed itself to establishing a culture of kindness and unity, with the hope that all of our students and community members feel welcomed, included, supported and heard, no matter their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or background.”
Elliott said he worried that Hofkin’s posts will lead people to believe “we talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.”
Vince Leskusky, said Hofkin’s explanation of the target of her post “stretches plausibility to the extreme.”
“I am disgusted and dismayed,” said Elizabeth Pierson, a 2019 graduate of Upper Perkiomen High School, adding “I think it’s appalling that you place blame on the public for how your message was interpreted. You are not the victim here.”
She was joined by several speakers in calling for Hofkin’s immediate resignation from the board, to which Hofkin replied “not going to happen.”
Calling Hofkin “a fountain of hate,” Maggie Buckwalter said “most companies would fire Mrs. Hofkin for her behavior. Hate speech has its consequences,” she said, adding the other board members should “step up and ask Mrs. Hokfin to step down.”
“Kids are online so much now,” said Coren Strawbridge. “It does not take a vulnerable kid long to find posts like this, and hatefilled language empowers bullies.”
The board also heard a letter from Jay Kressly Elias, a transgender person who attended Upper Perkiomen schools and was then known as Josie Elias.
“No matter how strange I seemed to outsiders, the people I grew up with — my family, my friends, their family, my teachers, my coaches, my employers — they always came to my defense. They stood up for me because they understood that I am a human being,” Elias wrote in a letter widely shared on social media.
It took two speakers to read the letter into the record during Thursday night’s meeting because Hofkin cut off of the first reader, Donna Sattler, saying her two minutes had expired.
“Raeann Hofkin clearly does not understand what this community is made of. She does not know what it takes to get to know and to love another human being. She can’t know it. Not with the comments she’s made and the hate she’s spewed. Her transphobic comments aren’t isolated incidents,” Elias wrote.
“She has consistently expressed her disdain for love, unity, peace, and respect on multiple public platforms by now. Almost too many times to count. Having her hold a position as high and powerful as Upper Perkiomen School District President is —and I am not exaggerating here in the slightest — an atrocity,” wrote Elias.
Hofkin said Thursday that she tried to reach out to Elias and was not well received.
Leon Quinn, who identified
“These posts do not speak for us and they do not speak for the Upper Perkiomen School District. We believe in inclusion for all.” — Upper Perkiomen School Board statement
“Hate-filled language empowers bullies.” — Coren Strawbridge, Upper Hanover
“I don’t believe I made any offensive statement to the LGBT community, but I guess the squeaky wheel is enough to make this witch hunt a success..” —Raeann Hofkin, Upper Perkiomen School Board member
as a transgender student, told the board, “I hear a lot of transphobic comments, it all goes back to hate.”
Hofkin’s posts have had other consequences besides her removal from the president’s post.
She posted on her Facebook page that she has received death threats, which
caring heart,” said board member Keith McCarrick. “I know you stand firm in your beliefs and I admire you for that. You’ve been a target for people who do not like you and the way you say things.”
“Some of those who railed against you tonight, who say hate has no place here, some of you are the biggest haters,” said McCarrick.
Joseph Van Wagner called the response to Hofkin’s post “a modern day witch hunt.”
Hofkin also had a defender in David Bradley, who noted that if the board is issuing a statement saying Hofkin’s post does not speak for them “why is the board taking action against the First Amendment?”
Solicitor Kyle Somers responded to questions about First Amendment issues from board members, saying that being board president is a decision of the board, and not a right, and removing Hofkin as board president, or censuring her, does not prevent her from exercising her First Amendment rights.
“President is an officer of the board, not a position she is entitled to,” Somers explained.
He said the policy which governs behavior by students and staff does not apply to the school board,
“Some of those who railed against you tonight, who say hate has no place here, some of you are the biggest haters.” — Keith McCarrick, Upper Perkiomen School Board member
who are elected officials.
Somers also said “code of ethics” — which appears at the top of every board meeting agenda and in which the school board members agree to “work with constituents in a spirit of harmony” — “is aspirational, and not a code of conduct.”
With that, the voting commenced.
In three separate measures, introduced by Elliott, the board first unanimously voted to issue a short statement saying “these posts do not speak for us and they do not speak for the Upper Perkiomen School District. We believe in inclusion for all.”
Board member Kerry Drake said he believed such a statement “should have been made last week.”
The second measure, which also earned Hofkin’s vote — but not before she quipped “do I get any due process before I get sentenced?” — was a vote to censure Hofkin.
Somers, who noted the school board does not have the legal authority to remove Hofkin from the board, said a censure represents “a statement of disapproval.”
Hofkin voted against the motion to remove her as board president, adding, “I am not stepping down.”
“I did not intend that comment to be directed at Dr. Levine, but at Gov. Wolf,” Hofkin said before the vote to remove her as president.
“You’re the only one who truly knows the intent of your comments,” said board member Stephen Cunningham, adding “you’re still a good person.”
The board then voted unanimously to replace Hofkin with Drake as board president, a post he agreed to take temporarily “until we can have more discussion.”
By Friday morning, the district website had already replaced Hofkin with Drake as president in the school board section of the site.
“I think its appalling that you place blame on the public for how your message was interpreted. You are not the victim here.” — Elizabeth Pierson, 2019 Upper Perkiomen High School graduate