Peters censures school board member

The Peters Township school board on Monday night voted unanimously to publicly censure member William Merrell after a racist post on Mr. Merrell’s Facebook account surfaced last week.

Screenshots of several inflammatory posts circulated last week on social media, including a link to an article titled “10 Things That Would Instantly Happen If All Negroes Left America.” Written above the post was: “Crime in the Burgh would go down for sure,” according to screenshots of Mr. Merrell’s apparent Facebook page.

“The board will not allow this type of discrimination and hate speech,” read board President Thomas McMurray in the motion to censure.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to the board members, to the district and to the community as a whole,” Mr. Merrell said prior to the vote.

“Even though it may be my right to say things on many different issues, I feel it has caused harm here. I’m sorry. Thank you,” he said.

About 10 community members spoke at the meeting prior to the vote, some calling for Mr. Merrell’s resignation.

“I believe in free speech, but we do have to recognize in today’s climate, words have consequence,” Mary Matsuura said. “I think your apology was a ‘sorry, not sorry,’” she said.

“I don’t trust you to serve on the school board,” said Caitlin Bell, who said the board should conduct a “full and impartial investigation” into Mr. Merrell’s posts.

Amy Lewis said when she saw the Facebook posts she scrolled through Mr. Merrell’s Facebook and Twitter feeds and saw “comments full of hate.”

“You must be held accountable for your actions. If this board is unwilling to act, I hope the pattern is disrupted tomorrow at the polls,” Ms. Lewis said.

“This is despicable. I hope you will see the light of day and resign from this sacred office,” added Joan Charlson.

Board member Lisa Anderson said before the vote, “To the extent that anyone on the board holds discriminatory beliefs, I ask you to please resign.”

“As school directors, we have to lead by example. There’s no place in this world for racism and hate speech,” added board member Minna Allison.