Beaver Area school board member resigns following controversial Facebook post
A Beaver Area School District board member tendered his letter of resignation following a controversial Facebook post that people in the district called sexist and Islamophobic.
Luke Berardelli resigned on Tuesday, and leaders will take action to accept his resignation at the next school board meeting, Superintendent Sean Aiken and Beaver Area School District Board of School Directors President Robin Tompson said in a joint letter.
"Nothing is more important to me than the health and safety of my children. Because of that, please accept my immediate resignation," Berardelli said in a statement to KDKA-TV on Tuesday evening.
In a Facebook post supposedly in response to the Lindsay Clancy murder trial in Massachusetts, Berardelli wrote, in part, "maybe the Islamic faith is the correct way to go considering they give women zero rights at all." The post went 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!"
The joint letter said the school board will begin the process of addressing the vacant seat. Last week, the district sent a letter to families distancing itself from the school board member's post.
During a school board meeting on Monday night, five of eight school board members called on Berardelli to step down. However, Berardelli defended his post and said he would not resign.
"Disagreement with my speech does not require me to surrender my own right to speak or be forced to assume beliefs assigned to me by the accusers," Berardelli said while addressing the meeting. "Or be forced to tuck tail and run because the mob demands it."
"I'm not going to capitulate at an attempt at your cancel culture because you dislike my post," he added.
Berardelli, who did not stay for the public comment session on Monday night, told KDKA-TV that 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 before the meeting. "The manufactured outrage creates a mob and the mob wants blood -- and it doesn't matter who or why."
Elizabeth Gallagher, a mother of three daughters in the district, told KDKA-TV on Monday, "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."
