School board members join call for Hofkin resignation

The eight other members of the Upper Perkiomen School Board Thursday night joined the more than 4,600 people who have signed a petition calling for Raeann Hofkin to resign from the school board.

With the exception of board member Keith McCarrick, who said at the start of the meeting said he would not take a position on Hofkin’s retweeting of transphobic memes about Dr. Rachel Levine, all other board members condemned her actions during Thursday night’s school board meeting.

Once every board member had spoken and asked Hofkin to resign, McCarrick said he too is calling on Hofkin to resign.

School Board President Melanie Cunningham also announced that “effective immediately” Hofkin has been removed from

all school board committees on which she sat.

Hofkin, who was removed last year as school board president after a similar episode, also involving Levine, was not present for the online board meeting Thursday.

She did not immediately response to an email Thursday night seeking comment.

Since the controversy erupted a few days ago, Hofkin’s Twitter account is no longer visible publicly.

The board’s call for her resignation followed a slew of speakers, all but one of whom condemned Hofkin’s actions on social media.

Hofkin’s lone defender was Levi Parson who did so on First Amendment grounds. Parson said Hofkin “has a lot of support in the community. She is being bullied and that is not fair to her. This is cancel culture at its finest and this is censoring. This is not what this country was founded on.”

But it was Hofkin’s retweeting of at least two transphobic tweets about Levine — who is transgender and, until recently, served as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health and has been since nominated for a post in the Biden administration — that were characterized as bullying by the other speakers Thursday night.

“Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence. There is no government agency going to lock her up for her comments,” Jennifer Eisenberger said in apparent response to Parson’s comment. “We are indeed looking to cancel bigotry.”

“A chord has been struck in the community. We must always be willing to address such behavior head-on,” said Carol Elias.

“Raeann Hofkin has stirred and fomented hate in our community for years and she has no place on a board,” said J.R. Renna.

Isabelle Zimmerman, president of the sophomore class at Upper Perkiomen High School, thanked the board for standing up for LGBTQ community and read a letter from another student that said, in part, “being tolerant is a choice, but being gay or trans is not.”

Phil Detwiler, speaking on behalf of the teachers union in the district, noted that in addition to her transphobic posts, Hofkin has also called “insurrectionists harmless patriots even though they killed a police officer.”

“Your messages are hateful and quite frankly have no home here,” said Detwiler “Please grant community a random act of kindness and resign from the school board.”

His was not the last call for Hofkin’s resignation.

School Board President Melanie Cunningham began the meeting saying board members had received many emails about the matter and several had spoken directly to Hofkin.

She, and district solicitor Kyle Somers, said the board does not have the legal authority to remove Hofkin unilaterally.

“This board is disheartened and disappointed to say the least not only with Ms. Hofkin’s personal posts, but also the ensuing hateful conversations within the community,” Cunningham said.

Roche followed Cunningham’s four-minute statement offering “an apology, not only to Dr. Levine specifically, but to everyone negatively impacted by this situation.”

“This board has been very productive, but nobody seems to know that. Ms. Hofkin’s poor choice and behavior continue to be the face of this district,” said Board Vice President Judy Maginnis, who called on Hofkin to “do the right thing, and resign for the good of the school district.”

“I can’t accept a school board member who attacks a group that we as a school board owe a duty to protect in our schools,” said board member Peg Pennepacker.

When Hofkin was censured and removed as board president last year, “she said she had learned her lesson, and yet here we are again,” said board member Mike Elliott.

Noting that Hofkin had recently talked about the mental health needs of Upper Perkiomen students, Elliott said “does she not know that one-quarter of our students feel bullied?”

“We made it clear to her before that what she said hurts the kids,” said Elliott, who added “it’s clear no lessons were learned in the past.”

He found hope, however, in the reaction condemning Hofkin’s actions. “It gives me hope that this community is not about hate.”

School board member Kerry Drake, who stepped into the president’s post after Hofkin was removed last year, said “it felt like we were starting to heal those divisions. We hoped she could remain a productive board member. But she is back attacking Dr. Levine in comments even worse than she did in 2020.”

“I cannot say how strongly I abhor this language,” Drake said. “But the damage is already done. The wounds are now open and they are deeper.”

Saying Hofkin “no longer has any credibility” as a board member, Drake called on Hofkin to resign, saying “let your last act as a board member be the first step toward healing this community.”

“A chord has been struck in the community. We must always be willing to address such behavior headon.”

— Carol Elias