School board member under fire after linking to pornographic site on Facebook post
WEST CHESTER, Ohio (WKRC) - A Lakota Local School Board member is under fire Wednesday night after a controversial social media post that put out severely inappropriate material to students and parents in the district.
Darbi Boddy linked a pornographic website to a Facebook post she put on her official campaign page. Boddy said it was an accident, but she doesn't regret it.
The content of the majority of post had nothing to do with that. In fact, she largely was airing her dissatisfaction with the school and its stance on critical race theory. Now, the board is asking her to resign, but she told Local 12's Cassy Arsenault she has no intention of doing that.
“Do you think leading by example in that way is appropriate?” asked Arsenault. “A lot of people would say that’s inappropriate."
“That’s what people want. They don’t want someone to play politics. I am here to protect the community and protect the children, and that’s what I am doing. That’s what I was elected to do, and many people support what I am doing,” said Boddy.
But a room full of angry parents and staff on Wednesday for an emergency board meeting on Boddy’s gaffe think she did the opposite of protecting their children when she posted a pornographic website to her public Facebook page.
“So then I clicked on it, and it indeed was a porn. And I was just blown away by it. Like, why is this on a school district page?” said Heather Cameron, a mother of two children in the district.
The exceptionally long post from Boddy is a passionate rant about critical race theory and lack of transparency, but then at the very bottom, she linked to the website.
“We are ready for her to be held accountable for her actions,” said Cameron.
Every board member, aside from Boddy, voted for her to resign. While it’s a strong statement, legally, the board can’t force Boddy to step down.
“Absolutely not. I would never resign,” said Boddy.
In a follow-up Facebook post, Boddy said the link was a typo but said the porn website is "representative of the disgusting material that is being put in front of our children."
“Look at the attention it’s getting. Now people will see what I posted on my website and they are going to look at this and check their children’s schools,” said Boddy.
The school district has denied Boddy’s accusations that Lakota includes pornographic material in its curriculum. They called Boddy’s accusations “absurd and false.”
“Just her inability to accept responsibility and say, like, 'Hey, I messed up. It was a typo. I shouldn’t have done that.' For her to double down on something like that is completely expected but just as absurd as I knew it would be,” said Cameron.
Boddy has yet to resign. An online petition to censure Boddy for her continued disrespect and aggression toward district Superintendent Matt Miller has more than 1,500 signatures.
