Residents demand resignation of whole Coatesville school board

Many Coatesville residents are calling for the entire school board to resign for how it handled racist text messages between the former superintendent and high school athletic director.

They’re upset the board in Chester County allowed the pair to resign instead of firing them.

It was standing room only for hours at the Coatesville school board meeting as resident after resident called for the whole school board to step down.

Linda Lavender Norris said residents will vote out school board members who refuse to resign.

“I promise you, you won’t. If I myself have to run against you, you won’t have to sit there.  Shame on all of you,” she said.

Anne Wertz said the racially charged texts the two men exchanged on school-issued cell phones can’t be swept under the rug.

“Whether guilt is proven or not, something went terribly wrong and these men need to be held accountable for their actions,” Wertz said. “You owe it to the Coatesville community to take a stand against these hurtful words and actions”

School board head Neil Campbell says the resignations were accepted to remove the men as quickly as possible.

“These exchanges were so offensive and hurtful that I personally did not want to put this stuff out in our entire community and no one on this board did either — not to protect the people involved but to protect our students,” Campbell said.

Whether the two resign or are fired, Campbell said the school board does not control whether they qualify for pensions.