Burlington School Board member David Kirk is drawing the ire of some parents who say his Facebook posts are racially insensitive, degrading to women and demeaning to students.
Kirk, who represents Ward 7 in the city’s New North End, should resign, said parent Alison Segar, in a post on the Support Our Burlington Schools Facebook page.
“I have just looked at his Facebook page which spews forth hatred towards many of the groups of people represented in our school district. I think we should be calling for his resignation,” Segar wrote. “I am embarrassed that he is a representative on our board and that he is part of the decision making process. UGH.”
In a telephone interview with Seven Days, Segar said she wanted to hear what Kirk had to say about the page. But she also vowed to bring to the school board her request that he resign. “I will certainly make my feelings known at the next school board meeting that I can attend,” Segar said.
Kirk did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Kirk’s Facebook posts defend the Confederate flag, suggest immigrant students ask schools to make too many changes for them, and poke fun at the Black Lives Matter movement. Kirk’s term runs through 2018. As of Tuesday evening, his Facebook page was publicly accessible.
Many of the posts on his page are shared from websites such as Just a Southern Thang, Right Wing News and, in the case of a post featuring a woman tied up in her underwear, I Love Golfing.
Some posts go back several years; others are more recent. On Monday, for example, Kirk shared a RudeFunny.com post that declared, “If I was a teacher, I would staple Burger King applications on failed tests.”
Some of the criticism about Kirk’s posts circulated among teacher union members who said they did not want to be quoted by name in Seven Days. The union and the school board are in the midst of heated labor negotiations, with a mediation session set for Wednesday and possible strike looming Thursday.
Here is a sampling of Kirk’s posts:
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Always good to hear from the “think of the children” but “don’t pay the greedy teachers” people. Who knows how deeply seeded these beliefs are for him. It certainly calls for some questions. At very least, he should get a huge slap on the wrist for being dumb enough to post stuff like this on facebook regardless of the intent behind doing so.
The easy to offend are easy to manipulate
Why do you think Kirk was voted in.It wasn’t for social skills it’s because we’ve seen a 45% tax increase in 5 years and if you live on social security like I do your hurting and want to know when some relief is coming.
Ah yes, another graduate from the Donald Trump School of Public Service. Class act…
I have an 8 yo at Champlain elementary. I’m a very busy person and I have trotted along these past few years assuming that reasonable folks are doing their best in their leadership roles to responsibly address the important issues facing this community and acting In the best interests of my child and all our children. I am disappointed in the extreme to see that someone who brings so little to the table is involved in any way with the ongoing teachers union discussions. Why would someone with such a narrow world view be on this board? I don’t get it. In fact, why would such a person want to be on this board? As I write this a friend points out this board is paying severance to the prior two incompetent superintendents (our tax dollars) in addition to the current salary: how much money is that altogether, and isn’t the board responsible for using our tax dollars to pay those extra salaries instead of distributing the monies to teachers who certainly should be paid more? With tools like Kirk on the board, this starts to make a bit more sense, doesn’t it?
This is a disgrace. Not acceptable are all. It is absolutely fear mongering. Public school is not a place for anything of this sort where children’s lives are in the balance. It is sickening and should not be tolerated.
Wow! These liberals are out of control. There isn’t one offensive item on his FB page. In fact a few items I will have to steal and share!
What sort of people do we have on our School Board? I wonder what the voters of District 7 think about this? Is this the man we want representing us, and making decisions affecting the education of our kids?
What kind of trash elected this trash??
This is a small example of a school board that is driving Burlington Schools into the ground!
The teachers union has to negotiate with these people?! No wonder there’s a strike!