Brewster Rally Calls For District Trustee To Step Down

BREWSTER, NY — Protesters angry that the Brewster Board of Education did not oust Trustee Krista Berardi over Facebook posts they called "racist and inflammatory" gathered at the district's administration building at noon for a rally.

The event, attended by about 40 people, featured Brewster High School sophomore Emily Sullivan, who created a petition Thursday on change.org after she saw two posts by Berardi. The posts, which the petition page included as screenshots, said the death of George Floyd May 25 after a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes was a hoax, and another said people who blocked I-84 while protesting in Connecticut over Floyd's death should be "hosed."

The rally was organized by Joelle DePaolo, who told the crowd she was fed up with bigotry in the Brewster community and wanted to help Sullivan.

The right-wing subtexts of Berardi's posts — of 1963 when police officers turned high pressure hoses on children in Birmingham, Alabama, and 2012, when conspiracy theorists began saying the massacre of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School (20 miles from Brewster) was a hoax — were offensive, DePaolo said.

"As a mother with school-aged children, there's not one day I don't think about Sandy Hook," she told Patch.

That conspiracy theory was shared last week among several Republican leaders in Texas, which infuriated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who demanded several GOP committee chairs resign, according to The Texas Tribune. "These comments are disgusting and have no place in the Republican Party or in public discourse," Abbott spokesman John Wittman said in a statement last week.

Not everyone agreed. Commenters on Southeast-Brewster Patch's Facebook post argued that Berardi's posts weren't racist and that she was exercising her freedom of speech. One commenter speculated that the protesters were "DemoRats."

However, Brewster school board President Sonia Mesika told Patch in an email, "The Board understands Ms. Berardi has free speech rights as an individual, which prevent it from taking legal action to seek her removal. However, I would like to say personally, for Ms. Berardi to continue as a Trustee is disruptive to the Board and hinders the District. The amount of time needed to appropriately address the social media commentary and valid concerns of our residents affects all aspects of our work. This is a crucial time right now for our Board to address the safe re-opening of our schools in light of Covid-19; having continued conversations on how we can improve equitable education for all our students; and having important discussions on matters of race and discrimination in all its forms.

"The community relies on our ability to be transparent and function with integrity on behalf of every single child in our district. As a Board, it is our collective obligation, duty, and responsibility to model thru our actions and words that we stand for and promote a District that is tolerant, diverse, and inclusive and opposes racism and discrimination on every level. The District will be holding a public forum as soon as the Governor's executive order is confirmed for larger gatherings for residents to come and be heard in person.

"Personally, I believe it is imperative that Ms. Berardi resign from her position as a Board Trustee. I believe she has breached the trust of the community. I find her posts reprehensible, offensive and inexcusable. They are not consistent with what I fight for every day while I serve on this Board, and in my opinion, what I believe our Board fights for as a whole."

As of 2:45 p.m. Friday, there were 2,656 signatures on Sullivan's petition.

SEE ALSO:

• Brewster Board Won't Ask Trustee To Resign For 'Racist' Posts
• Calls For Brewster Schools Trustee To Resign Over Facebook Posts