An Ohio school board president's rudeness to a woman discussing teen suicide led to community members yelling "shame on you" as they stormed out of the meeting, according to WCPO.
At a meeting held to discuss the death of 13-year-old Emilie Olsen, who reportedly committed suicide due to bullying, local mother Joan Parrett was addressing the board explaining her own children's experiences with bullying, including her son who is gay.
“I’m here because that could have been my son that decided to take his life,” she told school board and parents attending the meeting. “I’m here to stick up for all of our kids.”
Before she could continue, Board President Jerome Kearns stopped her saying, "You’ve exceeded your time, so if you could begin to wrap it up."
Kearns' comments enraged the crowd with the father of two Fairfield students, Ray Schmitz, shouting at Kearns to give her more time.
“Come on, give her some more time,” Schmitz shouted. “This is important. This is the only important thing we’ve talked about tonight. Quit hiding from it."
Dismissed by Kearns, as a stunned Parrett looked on, Schmitz railed at the board for attempting to move on to other items on the agenda.
"I can't believe you guys would bury your heads in the sand like that! Shame on you guys," he shouted as he pointed at all the members of the board.
Told by a board member that he needed to be quiet or leave, Schmitz replied, "I want you to leave! You. Leave our district. Our kids deserve more than that. Our kids deserve better than you guys. We can vote you guys out the next election, but this guy needs to go."
Instructed to leave because he was being "disruptive," Schmitz, whose daughter was friends with Olsen said, "Thank you for not giving an award out tonight for keeping our kids safe, because you guys failed."
Moments after Schmitz left the room, several other members of the audience walked out yelling at the board, "Shame on you."
Tempers in the community were raised when Fairfield City School Superintendent Paul Otten released a letter to the community stating there was “no credible evidence that bullying was a factor” in Olsen's death.
However local media has uncovered emails, school reports, and a social media account that showed the exact opposite was true.
Watch the video below, uploaded by Maxim Alter:
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