Embattled Columbia Heights School Board Member Officially Resigns
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. (WCCO) -- The Columbia Heights School Board accepted the resignation of a member accused of putting a controversial comment on Facebook.
Grant Nichols maintains he did not write the post about the sanitary habits of Muslims, but he did take responsibility for his page. Nichols and Muslim community leaders agreed he should resign to prevent more harm.
"I apologize to them, all for the hurt it caused," Nichols said as he read a resignation letter during Tuesday night's meeting.
But it took coming together and coming to an agreement with Muslim leaders to get to that point.
"That message hurt and insulted Muslim Americans and caused our children to walk out of school in protest," Ahmed AL-Beheary with the National Egyptian American Society said.
A Facebook post, Nichols said a co-worker posted as him on his page about the sanitary habits of Muslims, forced leaders to call for Nichols resignation. It took weeks, but in the end, they stood united in an effort to bring the community together.
"It's the kids' school district. It's their time. It's not mine no more," Nichols said.
"We believe as a community, what the community needs now and this school board needs and this district needs, is for us to come together and to heal," Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR, said.
During his resignation, Nichols acknowledged the need to accommodate every student. And he called for a foot washing station and bidet to be added to one men's and one women's restroom at the high school.
"I care very much about the students in the district so in order to end this current turmoil for the good of the district and its students I will resign on Oct. 13, 2015," Nichols said.
And with that, Nichols shook each board members hand, and then walked out of the meeting.
There is one other open seat on the Columbia Heights School Board. That will be filled first, then the board will determine how to fill the seat vacated by Nichols.