The Peters Township school board voted Monday night to publicly censure a board member accused of sharing a racist Facebook post.
William Merrell previously said he never made the Facebook post, and it happened when his account was hacked two years ago.
The post included a link to a list suggesting what would happen if all African Americans left the country and was accompanied by a racial slur. The screenshots suggest that Merrell posted the link and added his own comment of, “Crime in the Burgh would go down for sure.”
The resolution to censure Merrell passed unanimously at Monday’s regularly scheduled school board meeting.
Merrell said in an email to the Trib that he apologized for offending anyone.
He said he voted in favor of the censure against himself because “it would not be genuine for me to apologize then vote against the only action the board could legally take with a sitting board member.”
Of his apology, he said: “I did this because I care more for this district then I do about the individuals that take everything out of proportion and the lies and distortions that brought me to this point.”
Several parents spoke out at the meeting, and Merrell said some “did strike a chord,” and he saw how the posts could have been out of context of his “original meanings.”
