The Philomath School Board will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Philomath High School Library to listen to complaints related to a controversial social media post by its chair, Erin Gudge.
Over the past two weeks, the School Board formally accepted eight complaints against Gudge, who published comments on her personal Facebook page about why she would not mourn the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Gudge later deleted her comments but screenshots of the post circulated and three citizens spoke at the Sept. 11 meeting calling for her resignation. Several others were at the meeting in support of those speaking and the school district received official complaints that led up to the scheduling of the hearing.
The board’s vice chair, Tom Klipfel, said during a Sept. 29 meeting that each complainant will be given the opportunity to speak for up to 10 minutes. Gudge will then be given the option to respond.
The district also received two complaints with allegations that the board’s process to formally accept the complaints against Gudge were inappropriate based on freedom of speech. The board members will hear those complaints in a separate hearing on the same evening because they were submitted against the board as a whole.
Gudge opted to hear the complaints against her in an open meeting instead of an executive session, which are meetings closed to the public.
The hearing’s agenda includes time for deliberations and a decision but the board’s authority in the matter is limited. School board members in Oregon can be removed from their seats only through a voter recall. The Oregon Constitution states that a recall petition cannot be circulated until the person elected has held the office for six months (exceptions are in place related to senators and state representatives).
Gudge was elected in May with the current term beginning July 1.
The hearing is open to the public with those attending asked to enter the library through doors located at the back of the high school. The meeting is scheduled to be livestreamed on the school district’s YouTube channel.