Overview
- The Washington County Board of Education, meeting in an emergency session Wednesday, unanimously censured Keith Ervin for comments he made to a student at the April 2 meeting.
- The incident on April 2 was captured on the livestream as Ervin put his arm around a female student board member and said, “God, you’re hot,” after she asked questions about career and technical education.
- Ervin read a prepared apology at the emergency meeting and said he used “hot” to mean the student was on a roll, a defense that drew heckles from the audience.
- Several speakers and board members, including Whitney Riddle and Eric Barnes, urged Ervin to resign, while a petition with thousands of signatures also seeks his removal and faults Superintendent Jerry Boyd, who attended but did not speak.
- Censure is a formal public rebuke that does not remove an elected official from office, leaving Ervin in his seat as local reporting also recalls a 2009 disciplinary case over a lewd gesture on school grounds.