JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WVLT) – The teenage student who Washington County Board of Education Member Keith Ervin called “hot” during April 2’s meeting had choice words for a school board she thinks let her — and her community — down.
The student appeared in front of the board Thursday and delivered a four-minute speech to the sitting members, bashing them for inaction in delivery consequences to Ervin. In her speech, she called the board members “cowards” who taught her that “no one will stand up for [her].”
“The failure to act on the board’s behalf was and is equivalent to his actions, and it has hurt me just as much,” the student said. “To watch the chairperson be so quick to bang her gavel, to control the public, yet not use it once to control her own peer was disgusting. I understand the shock — I was there — but it is her responsibility to control and represent this board. You all have done a poor job at that representation.”
That wasn’t enough for the girl, however.
“Gaining global attention for sexual comments and assault is not the reputation that Washington County deserves. Everyone on this board shares that blame, as does every voter who put you into office. I believe that you are all cowards, especially those who used their god as a cop-out for forgiveness,” she said, referring to an argument promoting forgiveness several sitting members used to justify soft retaliation against Ervin.
“I do not forgive you, and I do not accept your fake apologies used to protect yourselves,” the student said. “I do not believe you deserve that peace of mind, so every time you feel a little bit of discomfort from the public, I want you to remember that it isn’t even a fraction of the discomfort that I felt on April 2.”
The student went on to say how the board’s decision had affected her personally. She did so by thanking the board members.
“With all of that being said, thank you,” she said. “Thank you for teaching me that no one will stand up for me besides myself. Thank you for showing this community what you think it means to protect our children.”
The entire statement is below.
