Facebook post has some Plum officials calling for the resignation of a school director

A Facebook post by Plum School Director Amy Wetmore has some borough officials calling for her resignation.

The post in question was made on July 8 by the school board’s finance committee liaison in a private page called “Black Lives Matter In Plum Boro.”

It appears to have been made to start a conversation about race while promoting an article and several books on the subject.

However, a segment of her post did not sit well with Plum Mayor Harry Schlegel and Councilman Mike Doyle, both Republicans. Both called for the Plum Democratic Committee chairwoman to step down as school director.

“For those who haven’t seen it, there is a heated debate about someone implying Republicans are racist,” the post read. “I would take that statement even further. If you are white and you are living in the United States, you are racist. I say this as a white woman.”

Schlegel said at Monday night’s council meeting that her statement paints a very broad negative brush.

“Every person in this room, according to her, this council, our police department, are racists,” Schlegel said. “I’m not going to tolerate that. We do not need divisiveness in this community. We have not had any issues like that in the past.”

He also said Wetmore’s comments carry more weight as a school board member, and referenced one who resigned last year due to backlash over his social media posts.

Brian Wisniewski, a Republican, shared an anti-Muslim post on his personal Facebook page. He stepped down last February.

“Elected officials are personally responsible for all their comments,” the mayor said. “They have the freedom of speech. … What is applied to a conservative Republican must be applied to a liberal Democrat. There are no double standards here in Plum.

“Inappropriate, defamatory and insulting rhetoric from a school director, an elected official, is unacceptable. This council, this community needs to loudly call for the removal of Amy Wetmore as a school director.”

Councilman Mike Doyle echoed the mayor’s sentiments.

“I have to laugh at it, because if not, my blood pressure would be as high as the mayor’s,” Doyle said. “It’s ignorant. It’s reckless. I don’t know Wetmore, so I’m not going to judge her the way she apparently judges us.”

He called Wetmore’s comments unacceptable and offensive.

Wetmore later edited the post

Wetmore edited her post on July 9 and changed the broad stroke of all white people being racists to, “I would argue that racism doesn’t care about political parties. Rather, if you are white and you are living in the United States, you are a product of white privilege. I say this as a white woman.”

Doyle said Wetmore’s edited post has not changed his mind about her stepping down.

“Her original statement means nothing?” Doyle asked. “Does this mean she didn’t believe her first post? How many swings at the ball does she get?”

Wetmore said via email Wednesday that she does not believe all white people are racist, but “all people hold implicit bias” and that “as white Americans (we) are not always aware of how those subconscious biases affect people of color.”

She also said her post was meant to start a conversation about racism and how using the term to label an individual as an explicit racist needs to change.

“We need to move toward awareness of systemic racism and how an individual is impacted by their social constructs in ways that they are not even aware of resulting in implicit bias.”

Resignation not necessary, councilman says

Councilman Ryan Delaney, who ran on the same ticket with Wetmore last November, criticized the post but did not advocate her resignation.

“When we’re tackling tough issues like racism, mistakes are going to be made,” he said. “When people are learning and growing and trying to learn things they’re going to say things that are wrong.

”I totally support people going to the school board meeting and holding her accountable,” Delaney said. “It will be interesting to see what happens with that.

“We cannot hide ourselves away,” he continued. “We need to have these tough conversations. We need to really look at the institutional racism, the culturally entrenched racism, the implicit bias that does exist in this country. It is out there and it is tough to see. I couldn’t sit here and not say anything. We all need to do better.”

The special school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday to address personnel moves and approve the 2020-21 school reopening health and safety plan.

Wetmore said her and Wisniewski’s social media situations are not comparable because he shared another person’s post on his own personal page, and her post was her own words within the context of a private group.

The Black Lives Matter In Plum Boro page is not affiliated with the official Black Lives Matter organization.