Correction, September 15, 2025 4:22 am: The spelling of Christie Vaughan's last name was corrected. The News regrets the error.
A Philomath School Board member’s social media post on the killing of conservative political activist and commentator Charlie Kirk sparked outrage from a group of community members Thursday.
Erin Gudge, who is in her second term on the board and was elected as its chair in July, posted via Facebook: “I will not mourn someone who spewed hatred in the face of grieving mothers the day their children were murdered. I will not mourn someone who would have preferred my own child not exist. I will not mourn someone who was teaching young people that empathy is weak and that civil rights should not be afforded to all.
“I feel deeply sad for his children,” she added. “I do not mourn him.”
During the public comments period of Thursday night’s Philomath School Board meeting, Chris Martin confronted Gudge and demanded that she resign immediately. He was one of three who shared their views on the matter.
“Your willingness or lack thereof to engage respectfully with those who hold differing opinions is a reflection of your capacity to serve all students in this district, not just those who share your views,” resident Amanda Lindsey said. “We are here to make sure that no child is subjected to bias or exclusion due to the personal views of those in this leadership. We urge the board to take this matter seriously and demonstrate that no one is above the standards we set for our own students.”
Christie Vaughan also had strong words.
“Regardless of our different opinions, no person in the role of leadership of impressionable minds should be posting such hate and callousness for the tragic loss of a human being,” Vaughan said. “I thought violence should never be condoned along with hate. It saddens me that this is the state of the heart of someone leading our schools and children.”
Asked after the meeting to respond to what she heard during public comments, Gudge said, “I deeply appreciate people coming and sharing their passion and their concern and I do feel very regretful for having posted something that had that much of a negative effect on anyone. I feel really terrible about it, honestly.”
Gudge said was not speaking on behalf of the board and published the post on her personal Facebook page. She took the post down after she was made aware of the backlash and later in the evening, opted to deactivate all of her social media accounts “due to severe threats of violence and being doxxed repeatedly.”
Gudge said she’s taking the matter seriously.
“I have done so much equity training that identifying such a large gap in my empathy is incredibly startling to me and I’m taking it to heart and I’m going to work on that,” she said.
Lindsey, Vaughan and Martin all showed concern for Gudge being in a position of power with students, as well as district policies and decisions.
“This is not just a matter of personal opinion, it’s a matter of public trust and student safety,” Lindsey said. “Many families, including ours and everyone in this room, are losing faith in this board’s ability to protect all students when individuals who show open hostility towards certain groups and are given influence over educational policies and curriculum.”
Vaughan said her statements were for the children of the school district who are entrusted to staff and board member decisions.
“For the record, what she wrote that he believed is not accurate at all for anyone who cared to really listen to his words,” Vaughan said. “He loved people deeply and only hoped that they would find inner peace and love in who they were.”
After Lindsey and Vaughan shared their comments, roughly 20 people left the room. Twenty-five minutes later, School Board member Ryan Cheeke made a motion to reopen public comment because another person had filled out a request-to-speak card but hadn’t turned it in. The board approved the move on a 5-0 vote to bring Martin to the table.
“We don’t even think our kids should be in the school district that you’re supposed to be helping build and keep safe,” Martin said. “Everything you say and do is supposed to keep our kids safe. We don’t see that at all.”
Many of those who have aired their views at the meeting or via email have asked that Gudge be removed as soon as possible. However, the school district and other board members cannot kick her off the board. Board members are not employees of the district but volunteers elected by local voters.
Superintendent of Schools Susan Halliday touched on that subject in an email sent to parents Friday.
“We want to alert the school community that as elected officials and not district employees, the district does not hire or dismiss school board members,” Halliday said. “Board members speak for themselves and their individual views do not represent the district, its values, or its operations.”
Vaughan suggested during her comments that the community might consider a recall election to have Gudge removed.
“Community members who wish to pursue changes in board membership may do so through established democratic processes such as recall or election,” Halliday said.
Gudge acknowledged that route as an option.
“If people are still dissatisfied, they can go onto the district website and they can look at the policy and they can follow the steps if they really still feel very strongly that I should be removed from my position,” she said.
Halliday made several points in the email to parents with the key message reinforcing the school district’s commitment to school safety and learning while recognizing that broader community events can affect their schools, which requires a continued collective effort to maintain a calm educational environment.
“We ask everyone to help make this possible by avoiding speculation or misinformation, modeling respectful conduct online and in public, engaging through established public processes, and refraining from threats or intimidation,” Halliday said.