A Vermont school principal was placed on administrative leave after he posted Facebook status about the Black Lives Matter movement which has been considered a “deaf-tone deaf.”
Tiffany Riley, who has been the principal of K-12 Windsor School in Windsor since 2015, made a comment on her personal page on Wednesday, The Valley News reports.
“I strongly believe that Black Lives Matter, but I do NOT agree with coercive steps taken to arrive at this point; some of them were falsified in an effort to prove something,” Riley wrote, according to the school website. “Even though I want to be behind BLM, I don’t think people should be made to feel they should choose the black race over the human race.”
“While I understand the urgency to feel compelled to advocate for black life, what about our fellow law enforcement?” he added. “What about all the other people who advocate and demand justice for all? Just because I don’t walk with the BLM sign doesn’t mean I’m a racist. “
A group of graduates recently denounced the post as “deaf-tone-deaf” and the Ascutney Mountain School District Council wrote in a letter that it was “uniformly surprised” by the post.
“Ignorance, prejudice, and lack of judgment in this statement are very contrary to the values we support as school and district councils,” the letter said.
The school board held an emergency meeting on Friday and voted unanimously to place Riley on paid administrative leave – with no plans to bring her back to the ship.
Inspector David Baker told The Valley News that the district would work on a “mutually agreed severance package” with Riley.
“They did not see in any way that he would go forward as head of the building who provided the comments and statements,” Baker said. “It’s clear that the community has lost confidence in its ability to lead.”
In a follow-up Facebook post, Riley wrote that she “accidentally offended” people, VT Digger reports.
“I understand the struggle of the black community and stand with them in their struggle against racism,” Riley wrote.
But school board chairman Elizabeth Burrows told the outlet that the second post did not help.
“That does not show assurance to African-American families – black families – that their children can feel safe – that they are valued and loved,” Burrows told the outlet.
Riley also wrote emails to school board leaders and supervisors who argued that his position had been “twisted” and “taken completely out of context,” according to the report.
