A Pennsylvania school board president is facing calls to step down after he cut off an Iranian mother who spoke out against critical race theory at a recent board meeting.
Anita Edgarian, an immigrant and mother of three, tried to ask if teachers were being taught CRT, but she was abruptly cut off by West Chester Area School Board President Chris McCune.
McCune was heard saying, “Anita, you’re at time,” to which Edgarian replied, “No, no.”
On tape, McCune is seen approaching Edgarian at the podium, taking her microphone, and telling her to leave.
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“This is shameful,” McCune said as he returned to the stage. “We’ve had a respectful meeting up until you. You bombarded up there, and now you want to monopolize the meeting. Not happening. You’re gone.”
Officers then escorted Edgarian out of the auditorium, but not before she was heard screaming, “Why did you say you cannot teach history without CRT?”
Critical race theory is a doctrine that argues historical patterns of racism are ingrained in America’s history, laws, and institutions and that the legacies of racism still create an uneven playing field for people of color. Though CRT has been around for decades, it has recently become a cultural flashpoint that takes aim at white privilege in the United States and has pitted parents against educators across the country.
In response to Edgarian being booted from the meeting, the Republican Committee of Chester County called for McCune’s resignation.
The GOP committee called McCune’s actions “reprehensible,” and though it acknowledged that Edgarian did go over her allotted two minutes, it pointed out that plenty of others did as well and that they were not told to leave. The committee likened McCune’s actions to that of a bully and accused him of being “unable to control his anger.” It also claimed he used his power to intimidate Edgarian.
“Since when do policemen haul off parents for exercising their 1st Amendment right of free speech?” the committee asked in a statement. “Shouldn’t she be allowed to return to her seat instead of being turned out of the building?”
In an opinion piece in the Daily Local News, West Chester resident Bernice Harvey said McCune “is not fit to serve in any capacity and should be made to resign immediately.”
She added, “His bullying and outrageous behavior is totally and completely unacceptable. He must be removed from this post. If the WCASD cannot clean its own house, voters have a chance to do that on November 2 since Mr. McCune is on the ballot.”
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Others, however, were split on McCune’s actions.
“The board’s real problem was their inability to face an angry parent,” Richard Derespina wrote on the Chester County GOP Facebook page. “This will happen more and more as public schools align with changing administration’s political policies. If they’re going to do it in a mature and transparent way, which these meetings are designed for they need to be able to answer and more tactfully handle those taxpayers in the community, who their positions exist through.”
McCune was elected to serve a four-year term in November 2012 and was reelected. He has been president since 2017.
Calls for comment to the school district by the Washington Examiner were not immediately returned.
