Park Ridge Board Member Resigns After Inflammatory Tweets About Women
By Wendy Widom
CHICAGO (CBS) — A Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 board member resigned after posting an inflammatory tweet about women who participated in the Women's March.
According to the Park Ridge Psychological Services website, Dathan Paterno, Psy.D., is founder and director of Park Ridge Psychological Services and the "author of three published works, including the parenting book "Desperately Seeking Parents."
After the Women's March on Saturday, Paterno allegedly tweeted, "Most of these vagina screechers didn't vote, but they mean business. Riiiiiiiight. What a farce." The alleged tweet has been removed from Twitter but a screenshot is now being shared on Facebook. Other tweets critical of women marchers, purportedly posted by Paterno, are also being shared on social media.
It appears that Paterno's Twitter account has been deleted.
Stefanie Murphy of Park Ridge, who has one child, expressed displeasure over Paterno's tweets. "Particularly given the tenor of the march over issues related to women, this vulgar term was a disappointment," she stated.
Paterno submitted his letter of resignation to Dr. Anthony Borrelli,
President, Board of Education, stating, "I wrote some provocative tweets re: the recent women's marches. In retrospect, they were inappropriate and pushed too far in some way."
He continued, "While I merely meant to harshly criticize some of the protestors (especially the very angry, hostile, vulgar, and violent ones) and question the motives of some of them, my tweets were understandably misinterpreted to mean that I disrespect or hate all the protestors."
Park Ridge-Niles Superintendent Dr. Laurie Heinz confirmed Paterno's resignation via email with CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez. "We find it truly unfortunate that his personal views have become connected to the important work we are doing here in District 64, especially as we inspire children to become informed, caring and responsible global citizens," she wrote in an email.
Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 issued a statement from Dr. Heinz. "Dr. Paterno has tendered his resignation effective immediately as a result of posts to his personal Twitter account yesterday," it stated.
Murphy believes Paterno's resignation from the school board is a "satisfactory conclusion." She says Paterno's tweets "reminded us all of why we were marching in the first place."
