FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leslie Leavoy
BATON ROUGE, LA – DFER Louisiana State Director Leslie Leavoy released the following statement calling upon District 8 East Baton Rouge Parish School Board member Connie Bernard to resign:
“It’s long past time for Mrs. Connie Bernard to resign from the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. Over the last few weeks, and frankly, over the last couple of years, Mrs. Bernard has repeatedly shown a lack of leadership, empathy, and respect for East Baton Rouge Parish’s students and families.
“Mrs. Bernard had the opportunity to do the right thing and step down in 2018 after she was caught on video placing her hands around the neck of a teenager in a neighboring home, but she did not. Mrs. Bernard had the opportunity to show support, empathy and respect for Black and Brown students and families when the effort to rename Lee High School resurfaced in the community a few weeks ago, but she did not. Mrs. Bernard had the opportunity to confront her ignorant public statements and stand in solidarity with Black and Brown community members during the most recent EBR Parish School Board meeting, but instead was too distracted. Finally, Mrs. Bernard had the opportunity to humble herself to her constituents and admit her wrongs and recommit her service to the Board, but instead she chose to gaslight the community. Enough is enough. The constituents of District 8 deserve better. The students and families of East Baton Rouge Parish deserve better.
“On behalf of Democrats for Education Reform, I urge Mrs. Bernard to finally do the right thing and step down. It is simply unacceptable that she has refused to do so up to this point. Should she continue to refuse the calls of her community, DFER LA commits to supporting the recall effort being led by the Democrats of the School Board by any means necessary.
“Furthermore, DFER LA commits to elevating leaders who unequivocally value Black lives and show up present for his or her community each and every day, and we commit to working with elected leaders and the community to dismantle racism and racist practices within the public education system that have held back Black and Brown students from reaching their full potential for far too long.”
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