After posting what many people consider to be racist comments on Facebook, a Brewster school board member will not be ousted from her position.

On May 31 Krista Berardi took to Facebook to share an opinion that the George Floyd murder was staged. The message, which appeared to have been cut and pasted from another account, included a conspiracy theory that somehow the police officers and Floyd were secretly working together to discredit Donald Trump. Another post was made on June 3 in reaction to a peaceful protest that was happening near Danbury.

These dumbasses 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."

Community members quickly condemned the posts, calling them "racist." A petition was filed on Change.org that has been signed by over 2,000 people. The petition demands that Berardi be removed from her position on the Board of Education.

These inflammatory and racist remarks are unacceptable and she should not be allowed on a Board of Education that serves students of all races. Brewster and the surrounding area has seen a number of BLM protests and demonstrations over the past two weeks. Anyone who has pledged to serve the children of Brewster must not harbor any bias in regard to racial issues and that is clearly not the case with Krista Berardi. We ask that she is asked to resign from her position, as a show of solidarity to the BLM movement in Brewster.

The Brewster Board of Education called special meeting on Thursday evening to address the issue and decide on a course of action. Those who watched the meeting say that the board reluctantly announced that they were not legally able to remove Beradi, but strongly condemned her statements.

Beradi did not directly apologize for what she said but did indicate that she was sorry if anyone took offense. Of course, Facebook groups in the Brewster School District are filled with passionate comments from parents both supporting Beradi and others condemning her for the offensive comments.

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