School Psychologist On Leave After Telling Radio Host To 'Kill Yourself' On Twitter
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BEAVER (KDKA) -- An employee of a Beaver County school district is in trouble after tweeting some controversial comments to a local radio host.
It was a reply message on Twitter that grabbed the attention 93.7 The Fan host Colin Dunlap.
The tweet was sent out Wednesday night by Matt Rehm, a school psychologist with Beaver Area School District.
The tweet was in response to a picture Dunlap posted while vacationing in Disney World with family, including his daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago. They were dressed up for Halloween. In the photos, Dunlap is dressed in a costume of traditional German lederhosen.
Dunlap responded by saying: "Nah. I'll elect to have fun with my family instead."
He took a screen grab of the tweets and posted it to his Twitter page. Rehm responded by saying: "Ok. Just leave your penis in the ladies room."
Beaver Area School District's Superintendent Carrie Rowe issued this statement about the incident, saying in part:
"We hold all of our educators to a high standard of ethics, civility and commonsense both inside and outside of the classroom. This morning, the District put Mr. Rehm on immediate leave. I want to personally apologize on behalf of the District for this extremely unfortunate incident. As a district, we care very much about the mental health and well-being of our students and I want to send a strong message that comments of this sort, whether sent with ill intent or not, are completely and utterly wrong."
Rehm responded to KDKA's request for comment by issuing a statement by email:
"Social media sometimes has a way of bringing out the worst in all of us. Today, I learned that I am no exception. In a completely misguided attempt at humor and the lederhosen costume in Mr. Dunlap's photo, I made an inexcusable comment. I apologize sincerely to both him and his family and hope they will forgive this error in judgment. I also want to apologize to the entire community, including students and parents. This incident serves as a reminder of how important it is to think before we comment. Words matter, and kindness is more important than trying to get a quick laugh."
KDKA's Amy Wadas reached out to Dunlap on Thursday night for a comment, but he declined.
The Beaver Area School District is conducting a full investigation into the matter.
