‘God, you’re hot’ Tennessee school board member says to student during board meeting

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JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WSMV) - A petition has been launched in an effort to remove a Washington County Board of Education member and the district’s superintendent over comments made toward a student during an early-April meeting.

During a BOE meeting that was streamed on YouTube on April 2, board member Keith Ervin can be heard saying the following to a student he was sitting next to:

“God, you’re hot. Do you know that? Where do you go to school at?”

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Directly after Ervin’s comments to the student, laughter can be heard throughout the meeting and then the meeting continues on, seemingly with no acknowledgement of the exchange.

Not long after the meeting, a petition was launched in an effort to remove Ervin and Washington County Schools Superintendent Jerry Boyd. So far, it’s garnered nearly 2,500 signatures.

“It is imperative that we take action now to hold these officials accountable. We demand the immediate removal of both Jerry Boyd and Keith Ervin from their positions on the Washington County Board of Education. Their continued presence undermines the trust and safety of the students they are meant to serve,” the petition partially reads.

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“One of our colleagues, Keith Ervin, made a grossly inappropriate comment toward our student Board member. Mr. Ervin has explained that he meant nothing offensive and that we have simply misunderstood his intentions,” the board said.

“Mr. Ervin knows his own intentions, but the rest of us have to judge his words and his actions. What we saw was shocking. He objectified and diminished a young woman publicly. No explanation can justify that.”

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Ervin has since defended his comments, claiming his actions were taken out of context.

“I had a student board member beside me, and we was talking, and she got up and was asking questions, and [she] just thoroughly impressed me and the other board members,” Ervin told WJHL on Friday, April 3. “I was. She was a top-notch student board member, and she was asking real smart questions. And I reached over, and I touched her on the shoulder, and I said, ‘You’re hot. You’re you’re good. You’re one of the best I’ve seen.”

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