BLAUVELT – Hundreds at a raucous South Orangetown school board meeting demanded the resignation of Trustee John “Jay” Savage after a social media post on his personal page in the wake of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination was widely shared.
Savage did not tender a resignation at the Sept. 16 meeting at South Orangetown Middle School.
“Open, honest conversation … is the function of an elected body,” he said to an impatient audience. He then thanked them for their attendance and “feedback.” He added that as school trustee, he has a “responsibility to our community and I genuinely welcome the opportunity for good-faith conversations.”
Kirk, a right-wing media personality and activist, was killed Sept. 10 at a Utah college. His death has spurred an outpouring of debates over his legacy. There’s been intense nationwide backlash to negative comments about the 31-year-old father of two, and people have been fired across the country over social media posts regarding his death.
In the Westchester school district of Somers, a school resource officer was reassigned after posts attributed to her were reported to school officials.
Amid the shouts from the audience at the South Orangetown meeting, a person called out to Savage: “This is gonna be every single meeting ’til you’re out!” Many responded with rousing cheers.
Among the around 35 speakers during the public comment session, a few said they didn’t see a need for Savage to resign or be removed. They were booed.
Savage said the reaction to his “personal opinion shared in a private forum” had been subject to “deliberate misinformation.” He reiterated that the comment about Kirk’s killing stated that “He was a human being, and no human being deserves to be murdered.”
Savage did not include the portion of a Sept. 11 post attributed to him that questioned lowering flags half-staff to honor Kirk and used an inflammatory label.
While Savage did not specifically address the calls for his resignation, most of around 35 speakers called on him to leave or the board to throw him off.
While the board could attempt to initiate removal proceedings, that did not happen at this meeting because the board lost quorum, or the legal minimum number needed for a board to do business, and the meeting then had to end. One board member walked out just before the meeting officially started and two more left when a motion to go into executive session was made.
Board makes clear they are not allied with Savage
Savage won Seat 2 on the board in May, besting incumbent trustee David Sansone 1,214-1,076. The position is volunteer.As the Sept. 16 meeting was about to be gaveled in, Trustee Katie Gravino did not take her seat. She stood behind it.
Saying that she would not stay at the dais if Savage did, Gravino said that if he did not resign, she would “be forced to consider my own position” on the board of education. She then walked out as people cheered.
Her departure left four of five board members present.
Superintendent Brian Culot said he had received hundreds of emails calling for Savage’s removal from the board. He and Board President Steven Finn had sent out a statement Sept. 13 stating that an unnamed trustee’s social media post was not authorized by the board or administration, “nor does it represent the values and expectations of the South Orangetown Central School District.”
Finn said at one point that the decision to remove a board member was a “fairly new topic.” Someone shouted back, “no it’s not!” A South Orangetown trustee resigned in fall 2024 after their use of an emoji to respond to a Facebook post was widely criticized. The former trustee said it was “misconstrued.”
Trustee J. Robert Coleman said during the Sept. 16 meeting that he didn’t agree with those framing the backlash against Savage as a First Amendment issue.
“No one told this individual they couldn’t post that,” Coleman said. “He can write whatever he wants to write.”
But, he said, “there’s a corrollary to that. Everyone can have whatever reaction they want and take any action accordingly. …. as a school board representative, we should be held to the highest standard of decorum.”
Is an official’s social media post considered an “action” in a government role?
The U.S. Supreme Court in recent rulings has called into question when and whether a public official’s personal social media activity is considered action within a government role.
The issue, according to an opinion on O’Connor-Radcliff vs Garnier, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was whether the elected member “possessed actual authority to speak on the State’s behalf, and purported to exercise that authority when he spoke on social media.”
After a long public comment period at the South Orangetown meeting, Finn took steps to go into executive session, which would be the venue for discussing any legal proceedings, including the removal of Savage from the board.
But Trustee Diana Korabel made a motion instead to end the meeting.
“I’m sorry but I can’t sit here and take this anymore,” she said. Turning to Savage as she stood to leave, Korabel told her colleague that his words were impactful to children. “So, take that!”
She walked out. Coleman then walked out.
Finn then said the meeting had ended.
How and why can a school board member be removed in NY?
There are steps for removing a school board member that can be taken by the state Education Commissioner or the trustee’s fellow board members.
According to the New York State School Boards Association, reasons to remove a school trustee include: willful violation or neglect of duty; willfull disobedience of a law or decision, order or regulation of the commissioner or rule of the Board of Regents.
An example given by NYSSBA would be behavior that interfered with a board’s ability to function, such as a physical altercation or threat at a school board meeting by one trustee against another.
The school boards organization also in a 2023 message said that a school board should consider a policy that exhorts school board members to “exercise care and good judgment.” However, NYSSBA asserted that it would be “unlikely” the education commissioner would support a trustee’s removal for failing to follow the guidance.
NYSSBA did not immediately return a request for comment on the South Orangetown situation.
If the board votes to proceed with removal against Savage, the trustee then has 10 days to respond.
Finn said at the meeting that the board was “following the process of a lawyer.”
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Charlie Kirk post draws calls to axe South Orangetown school board trustee. What’s next?
Reporting by Nancy Cutler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
