The sharply worded statement Friday also encouraged Kirk “to withdraw from his board activities at his discretion, to allow space for the board to review this matter.”
When asked if he thought that Kirk should resign or take a temporary leave of absence, Obeng replied, “I do not have the authority to direct him.”
The superintendent’s condemnation came after Seven Days first reported Tuesday night on the images Kirk posted on his publicly accessible page. One defended the Confederate flag. Another accused immigrant students of asking too much of schools. And another featured an underwear-clad woman tied to a bed. At least one unhappy parent urged Kirk to resign.
The school board member from Ward 7 in the New North End apologized Wednesday and scrubbed his Facebook page of the offending images.
He wrote:
Although these were private communications and are not related to Burlington School District work, the role of school board commissioner holds a high responsibility in our Burlington community. This incident is a distraction to the vital work the Board is leading, and in particular its work and commitment to an equitable and inclusive environment. Our students and staff need and deserve a board that is focused and without distraction.Kirk could not immediately be reached for comment.
Some 260 people have signed a change.org petition urging Kirk to resign or be removed from the board.
It reads:
In a community that celebrates its multiculturalism on the playing field and in the classroom, this kind of openly hostile behavior to students, their families, and their many friends and neighbors is not welcome on the board that oversees the most diverse school district in the state.People are welcome to their personal, political views — but these posts went beyond that and were hurtful, and have the potential to incite violence and cause harm to members of our community. Hate does not have a home here.
The board voted in August to work on improving the racial climate for district employees after three African American administrators made a formal complaint about discrimination and harassment on the job.
Here are some of Kirk’s deleted posts:
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Very appropriate for Superintendent leadership on this and am gratified to see Mr. Obeng acting ethically and morally on this issue.
That said, our students and staff (and law-abiding taxpayers) also deserve a Superintendent who does not lie during the interview process and who does not break the law. Instead, Mr. Obeng lied, saying he intended to live in Burlington, as required by City law at the time he was hired. Imagine the shock when instead he moved to South Burlington. The residency requirement was enacted with good reason, so the people at the top are not exempt from the real-world consequences of their decisions. Mr. Obeng openly flouts this & voted with his feet, saying Burlington is good enough to pay his salary but not good enough for his family to live in. “Do as I say; not as I do” is the read-between-the-lines lesson learned by the students he is supposed to lead.
In spite of the voters overwhelmingly rejecting attempts to eliminate the residency requirement for city leaders (defeated at the ballot box twice in the last 15 years), the Mayor and majority City Council then shamefully recently amended the law to pretend that living anywhere within the borders of Chittenden County is the same as living in Burlington city limits. This amendment completely undermines the law and the will of the voters. We’ve come a long way from the years when Bernie Sanders was mayor, and not always in the right direction.
I don’t expect to agree with everything that this administration does, but it is a sad statement to hire people and allow them to relocate some place beside Burlington. The person who lives in Shelburne and claimed financial hardship because they spent too much money on their home? If someone spends too much money on home improvements then let them get a job any place but Burlington city government. Their financial acumen and common sense is obviously lacking. The guy commuting from New Hampshire? The excuses have gone beyond the realm of reason.
Excuses are given and accepted as if Burlington voters are complete morons, that is what I find most offensive. Having the ability to exempt is a good idea but it has been badly abused. It has been hard to support Mr. Obeng when he expects us all to accept his flimsy excuses. We have all gone to schools with classmates whose parents were principals and/or administrators. This is extremely common and completely non-problematic for the students or parents.
And this school board member was elected presumably with his voters knowing his positions. As much as I find them distasteful, if he can fight against the teacher’s union, I support him. The teachers demands are completely out of control and voters need anyone who can help keep the teachers from bankrupting Burlington’s taxpayers.
I don’t agree with Mr. Obeng putting pressure on the school board to try and squeeze one member out. While I *DO* strongly disagree with the messages underlying Mr. Kirk’s social media postings, it is still not Mr. Obeng’s position to judge the content of a board member’s private communications and determine whether that member is fit for the board. In fact, Mr. Obeng was hired by and answers to the school board so it’s really not his place at all to be “blasting” a member.
The school board members answer to the citizens of Burlington. If they are unhappy with him, it’s up to them to force him out.
In a democracy with guarantees of freedom of speech, such as ours, persons are permitted to express their views without fear of government reprisals, no matter how much we may find those views repulsive. Obeng is going to learn this civics lesson the hard way, wasting a lot of time and money along the way. Beyond that is the obvious fact that Mr. Obeng actually works for the school board, including Mr. Kirk, however hard that may be to swallow. Obeng answers to Kirk, not the other way around. Kirk answers to the voters who elected him. In a democracy, there are legal ways to remove Kirk from office, the most obvious one being that the electorate votes him out of office or recalls him from office, if such apparatus exists for the latter course. I find Kirk disgusting and his views reprehensible and his judgment questionable, but he is within his rights to express those views in the manner in which he did. One of our core freedoms is embodied in the oft-quoted line, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” I’d be very careful not to throw that guiding principal away.
The school board should be blasted for wasting money on Obeng. Great message to Vermont educators.
There is nobody good enough in town, in the state OR IN THE COUNTRY to fill his position.
SHAME on all of them in this selection process.
Let me get this straight: We paid for a search committee to find our superintendent. They had to go to another country to find a qualified candidate. (What a slap in the face to Vermonters in particular and US citizens in general–sorry, but it was.) We had to pay more money to get the candidate over the border. Then he breaks our law that requires Queen City residency for city officials by promptly moving out of Burlington. Now he pokes his nose into what I think is the voters’ business–besides, don’t people have the right to their own opinions even if they don’t match our own? Yes, they do. Kirk apologized, took the offending stuff down, let it go at that.