School board member defends controversial Facebook post, says he was using "hyperbole"

A Beaver Area School District board member is facing calls to step down after a social media post that others are calling sexist and Islamophobic. 

In a Facebook post, school board member Luke Berardelli said, in part, "maybe the Islamic faith is the correct way to go considering they give women zero rights at all." The post has created a firestorm in Beaver County. It supposedly came in response to the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, but it goes on to tell women: "Cover your body. Shut your mouth, And you can't do anything unless a man says so. No education. You're not allowed to drive. The whole shebang!"

Elizabeth Gallagher, the mother of three daughters in the district, said the post is outrageous for someone overseeing the education of students, especially girls. She and others plan on confronting Berardelli at a school board meeting on Monday night for demeaning women and Islam. 

"Whenever somebody puts down an entire group of people, whether that be Muslims, a religious group, a gender ... when we stereotype people and lump everyone together, that is a way to divide our community and cause division where it just isn't necessary," Gallagher said. 

Berardelli, responding to an inquiry by KDKA-TV, said he was using sarcasm and "hyperbole" to make a point about extremism. 

"The whole thing is being drummed up by people who don't like me," Berardelli said. "The manufactured outrage creates a mob and the mob wants blood -- and it doesn't matter who or why."  

But the school district last week sent a letter to families distancing itself from the post. Superintendent Dr. Sean Aiken said it runs counter to the beliefs and values of the district, whether sarcastic or not. 

"People don't read social media posts for hyperbole or sarcasm," he told KDKA-TV. "They take what they see for face value. And so according to face value, I believe that statement does not reflect who we are as educators nor who we are as a school district." 

During Monday's meeting, parents are expected to ask that Berardelli be censured, removed from the board or voluntarily step down.

"That is the biggest lesson that we can teach our children is that we are going to hold people accountable," Gallagher said. "You are able to say whatever you want, but what you say has consequences."

KDKA-TV reached out to the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh for comment but did not hear back on Monday.