The Charleston County School District (CCSD) Board of Trustees voted 6-0 Tuesday to censure freshman board member Ed Kelley and remove him from his leadership roles after an alleged threat he made toward a transgender teacher sparked public calls for his resignation.
Board member Carlotte Bailey abstained from the vote and board member Leah Whatley was absent. With the vote, Kelley is prohibited from visiting any district schools for the next three months.
According to published reports, censuring a sitting member is the strongest action a school board can take, as only South Carolina’s governor can remove a board member.
The Tuesday vote came at the board’s first official meeting since a controversy erupted March 27 when a woman claimed in the public comment session that she heard Kelley at a Mom’s for Liberty meeting say he “would’ve showed up at the teacher’s house with a gun” in remarks related to a teacher. Mom’s For Liberty is a right-wing political group that has backed several sitting CCSD board members.
Earlier this week, Kelley could not be reached for comment by email. But in a public statement, he said, “It is not within a teacher’s unilateral discretion to make statements about personal sexual choices to children without consulting school officials including the superintendent and principal (who in turn have a moral imperative to engage with parents).”
After Tuesday’s vote, the woman who complained told television reporters she had no affiliation with the school district, but she didn’t think what she heard Kelley say was fair to transgender teachers in the district. She added censuring Kelley was “a good start,” later adding, “They shouldn’t feel unsafe, and they shouldn’t feel like their jobs are being threatened because of people having their opinions about trans people or gay people or whatever.”
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