On May 31, 2020 Brewster School District Trustee Krista Berardi posted on her Facebook page, a rant she accredited to an “Al Tracy” which read, in part, that the George Floyd tragedy in Minneapolis “was staged” and “I think there is at the very least, the possibility that this was filmed execution of black man by a white person with the purpose of creating racial tensions”. On June 3rd at 2:32 pm, she posted a rant along with picture of that days protest on I-84 in Danbury, CT.
Late last night she resigned form the Brewster School District Board of Trustees.
“This is the bullsh** I’m dealing with right now. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster the past couple of days I just want to get out with my daughter for a couple of hours. These dumb**es need to get hosed if they don’t get off the highway. This will never make people sympathetic to your cause, it will make people hate you though”.
Those posts set off a firestorm of outrage on Facebook as several dozen students, parents and community leaders all denounced her comments on Facebook pages such as Southeast Brewster NY and the Brewster Parents page. One parent created a petition to have her removed from the Board for making the comments and several hundred had signed that petition prior to the meeting Thursday evening
The Board met via Zoom and immediately went into executive session for over 2 hours to discuss the matter. Meanwhile several dozen attendees took to the chat Zoom feature to voice their displeasure and again called for Miss Berardi to resign immediately or to have the board remove her.
Upon returning from Executive session and working out a few internet glitches that left Board President Sonia un-hearable, the board announced that while they were disappointed and disgusted at the comments they had no legal standing to remove Miss Berardi from the Board. They did however pass a resolution denouncing the remarks.
“We write to inform you that Board of Education Trustee Krista Berardi submitted her resignation as a member of the Board late last night.
We would like to acknowledge her for her service and for making the decision to step down to help our community heal.
We recognize the events of the last few days have been painful for many. As a Board, we have an unbending obligation to the well-being of every child in our community. Toward that end, we will be working with our students, parents, administrators, faculty, staff, and community residents to promote positive and caring relationships, trust, and understanding.
The District will be holding a public forum as soon as the Governor's executive order is confirmed for larger gatherings of residents to come and be heard in person. Details to follow on this”
In a statement sent to the community just 30 minutes before the Board Presidents statement, the Brewster Teachers Association issued the following statement via e-mail.
"In education, our words and actions impact our students and our community both positively and negatively which is why we are held to a higher standard and are entrusted with acting with morality for the public good. In Brewster, the teachers strive to model this behavior as we guide and encourage our students to search for truth, celebrate and embrace diversity, and support one another to form a unified community. We adamantly oppose and do not condone the actions and expressions of anyone that causes divisions within the community and displays a level of ignorance, especially when that person holds a position of educational responsibility in our district."
Miss Berardi ran unopposed last May and began serving on the Board July 1, 2019. Her term was to expire on June 30, 2022.