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During a Zoom Board of Education meeting that was heavily attended by community members on Thursday night, June 11, the Brewster Board of Education announced it would not be removing Krista Berardi from the board after her comments surfaced.
On Sunday, May 31, a post on Berardi's Facebook account said: “Read This Now!!! Was the George Floyd Incident Staged?” in all capital letters.
Days later, on Wednesday, June 3, a post on the account read: “This is the (expletive) I’m dealing with right now. It’s been such an emotional rollercoaster the past couple of days, I just want to get out with my daughter for a couple of hours.”
“These dumbasses need to get hosed if they don't get off the highway. This will never make people sympathetic to your cause, it will make people hate you though,” in response to a group of protesters who temporarily shut down an exit off Route 84.
The board said that it doesn’t have the legal authority to remove her from the position.
“I understand the outrage in the community," board member Erik Grutzner stated. "We, unfortunately, are in a position where this was really the only option."
Before the board's announcement, a petition demanding her Berardi's removal was started by a Brewster student garnered more than 2,500 virtual signatures.
“This is unacceptable, and Krista Berardi must be asked to step down from her position on the Brewster Board of Education,” the organizer of the petition wrote. “She was elected after running unopposed, and we cannot wait until 2022 for her term to be up. These inflammatory and racist remarks are unacceptable and she should not be allowed on a Board of Education that serves students of all races.
"Brewster and the surrounding area has seen a number of BLM protests and demonstrations over the past two weeks. Anyone who has pledged to serve the children of Brewster must not harbor any bias in regard to racial issues and that is clearly not the case with Krista Berardi.”
Berardi, an art teacher in the Carmel School District, was elected to the school board in Brewster last year. She has not spoken directly on the issue of her posts nor apologized for them. She has since deactivated her Facebook page.
The Brewster Board of Education is made up of seven unpaid residents elected to staggered three-year terms. Berardi was elected in 2019.
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