Mill River Union School Board Chairman Brownson Spencer says he has no plans to resign despite calls for his ouster by several parents and teachers at a school board meeting Wednesday night.
Spencer has come under fire for remarks he made during a school board meeting Feb. 4 in which he spoke of new in-vitro technology that may help avoid certain genetic problems.
Spencer went on to say “and if you have been following that it has pretty awesome implications for education because we could probably greatly reduce the number of special ed. kids with this brand new biological technique.”
Many were deeply offended by the remarks, which were caught on video and spread via Facebook.
Dave Younce, superintendent of the Rutland South Supervisory Union, was criticized by some for not challenging Spencer at the Feb. 4 meeting.
Younce admits he should have, and says he and Spencer spoke at length the next day.
“I think that Chairman Spencer cares greatly about Mill River. He cares greatly about the community and is very involved the community,” says Younce. “However, sometimes we get in our own way and I think this is a good example of that. I think he made some comments that were off the cuff and not indicative of the board’s opinions and lost track of the gravity of those comments and the impact that they would have.”
Voters will decide next month whether to reelect Spencer to the school board.
