Washington Co. student at center of BOE controversy, addresses board at meeting

The Washington County student who was at the center of comments made by Board of Education member Keith Ervin spoke at Thursday night’s board meeting and called members “cowards.” Video of an April 2 school board meeting showed Ervin telling the student, “God, you’re hot, you know that? Where do you go to school at?” A clip of the incident went viral on social media, and calls for Ervin to resign grew. Ervin has said that his comments were taken out of context and that he only meant to compliment the student for asking good questions. After being absent from the board’s most recent meeting, Ervin was in attendance at Thursday evening’s meeting. During the public comment section of the meeting, the student described Ervin’s actions as “not only unwelcome, but sexist and derogatory.” She went on to admonish the board and the board chair, saying, in part, that the failure to act on the board’s behalf was and is equivalent to Ervin’s actions. She went on to say that “Everyone on this board shares that blame, and called the board cowards, especially those who use their God as a copout for forgiveness.” The board voted to censure Ervin in an emergency meeting on April 8. The Washington County Commission also made a vote of no confidence.. After the student spoke, a large share of those in attendance at the meeting got up and left.