The toxic environment of the East Ramapo School District was on full display at Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, as civility in the contentious district appeared to go from bad to worst.
The school board’s lead attorney was caught on video repeatedly cursing a group of district parents and activists, punctuating the confrontation with FUs and punctuating his tirade by calling one member a particularly nasty epithet related to the female anatomy.
Rockland County politicos and people from NY State Senator David Carlucci to Suffern Mayor Dagan Lacorte and Rockland County Times editor and Stony Point Supervisor candidate Dylan Skriloff have called for attorney Christopher Kirby’s immediate termination.
In a strange display of unprofessional and belligerent behavior, East Ramapo School District lead attorney Chris Kirby lost his temper at a parent speaking during a public comments portion of the ERSB meeting. Board members made no effort to intercede in the exchange or censure Kirby; instead, they sat quietly watching the confrontation escalate. And escalate it did.
The entire sequence of events was captured on video. And East Ramapo Board Vice President Yonah Rothman’s pained pleading to Kirby, after a later and particularly harsh parking lot exchange, certainly rang true.
“You’re going to regret it in the morning,” Rothman implored Chris Kirby, after Kirby’s profanity-laced parking lot outburst, directed at a small contingent of regular board attendees.
The incident appeared to begin as East Ramapo parent and frequent school board critic Peggy Hatton stepped to the microphone during the public comments portion of the BOE agenda, at the end of a five-hour meeting. Hatton was recounting a personal incident related to the recent Regents exam and her child, who is in special education, to highlight what she considered the district’s “lack of communication” with parents, when she apparently felt that attorney Chris Kirby was being disrespectful and “smirking” at her.
Patton asked Kirby several times to stop whatever he was doing to incite her. Kirby at one point got up and left the room before re-entering and taking a seat again, as Hatton continued to address the board.
Hatton again asked Kirby to refrain from smirking at her while she addressed the board.
Kirby shot back at Hatton, “Oh, will you shut up, for Christ’s sake.”
And then the whole evening rode off the rails.
(Raw Video: contains graphic language)
It appeared that no member of the school board spoke in defense of Hatton or made any attempt to control Kirby or denounce him for his conduct. Kirby works for Minerva and D’Agostino, a Long Island, NY law firm under contract with East Ramapo, according to LoHud, at $250 per hour plus $125 an hour for travel expenses.
The confrontation escalated in the parking lot after the board meeting. Kirby got in his car, presumably to leave, but then got back out again and approached a group of parents and district activists that included Antonio Luciano. The group was engaged in a bit of belligerent complaining about Kirby’s board meeting conduct, which included calling Kirby an epithet.
Then Kirby completely lost his cool, creating a toxic environment. He approached the group, confronting them, repeatedly saying FU and calling a male in the group a vulgarity. Then, after walking to his car several times, and even getting in but refusing to just leave the scene, Kirby finally called another member of the group an extreme obscenity that American boys, let alone professional men, are cautioned to never call a woman, especially during a heated exchange.
Board of Education President Yehuda Weissmandl said the board would release a statement regarding the incident and that a special meeting of the school board was called for early next week to address the issue.
The incident is ricocheting through the community at large and the Twitterverse, with the video now playing on USAToday.com, resulting in an immediate and vocal backlash. Rockland County Executive candidates Dagan Lacorte, David Fried and Ed Day have all spoken out publicly, harshly condemning Kirby’s behavior. Sen. David Carlucci, D-New City, called for Kirby’s immediate termination.
“These actions were reprehensible and uncalled for in their entirety and demonstrate a lack of professional conduct that should never be tolerated,” Carlucci said.
Dylan Skriloff said, “Such behavior by paid staff of a public body as caught on camera last night sets a precedent that is truly dangerous to every town in Rockland County.”
Phyllis Frank, president of the National Organization of Women in Rockland, in Lohud called Kirby’s language “horrific” and beyond indecent.
“To use a word that refers in a most vulgar and horrific way to a woman’s genitalia and to spew that horrible slur not only insults women in general but is beyond professional ethics,” Frank said. “It’s unspeakable in 2013 or any other year. I am horrified to hear this.”
Photos and video of Christopher Kirby and members of the East Ramapo School District courtesy of LuckyLouProduction.
