MENLO PARK, CA — Fallout from a racist social media rant that led to a Peninsula school board president’s resignation last month is now at the center of a campaign to ouster another Las Lomitas Elementary School District board member.
A change.org petition drive is seeking the recall of John Earnhardt, who last month made a public statement that in the estimation of some downplayed former board President Jon Venverloh’s wife’s racist and misogynist social media tirade attacking Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Earnhardt in a Palo Alto Daily Post interview attributed the controversy that led to Venverloh’s resignation to the proliferation of social media and a more engaged citizenry amid the coronavirus crisis.
The petition had garnered 129 signatures as of Tuesday morning. An official recall petition would require the signatures of a quarter of the district’s registered voters before any action could be taken, The Almanac reports.
The district is headquartered in Menlo Park and also serves communities in Atherton and Ladera.
Venverloh quit abruptly after his wife Meredith Venverloh’s social media posts surfaced in the immediate aftermath of Joe Biden’s election victory that were captured in screen grabs.
Venverloh deleted her Twitter account after the offensive posts surfaced.
Meredith Venverloh said in a Twitter post questioning Harris’ qualifications “Yes! All she needs to be qualified is a black pussy! No brain needed.”
She said in another post: “The possibilities are endless for little girls who whore their ways to the top!!!”
Brianna Caldwell, a mother of four who helped organize the petition, told ABC News last month that she was sickened by Venverloh's tweets.
"I almost vomited, then I cried a little bit and then I was just shaking and I was so angry," Caldwell told the television station.
Earnhardt in a Palo Alto Daily Post interview described Jon Venverloh as a “great colleague … very diligent as a board member and impactful for the district.”
According to the Post report, “Earnhardt said the controversy moved quickly today because it spread through electronic media and parents this year are more engaged in the district than in the past.
“He said that before the pandemic, maybe eight to 15 people would attend school board meetings. But after the pandemic began, and the meetings moved the Zoom platform, attendance exploded to 150 people or more.”
Those comments have not sit well with the petition organizers.
“Las Lomitas Governing Board Member John Earnhardt should be recalled for failing to formally denounce racism present in Las Lomitas Board leadership,” the petition’s statement said.
“In a year marked by civic unrest and evidence of both white privilege and systemic racism in our society, his failure to take an anti-racist stance to Mehridith Venverloh’s twitter posts is unacceptable in this community.”
Caldwell said earlier this week in a Mercury News interview that Earnhardt “used his privilege to defend Jon Venverloh, and trivialized the gravity of the trauma to our community by minimizing it as a social media controversy.”
Earnhardt did not immediately respond to a message from Patch through the district office.
Venverloh subsequently apologized for the offensive posts, which she blamed on her "weaning off of my meds" for a neurological condition from which she suffers "to prepare for a hospitalization that is scheduled to start tomorrow" according to a statement obtained by ABC News.
"Words cannot express how sorry I am for the offensive posts I made on social media in the middle of the night last night," her statement said.
"Those who know me know I am passionate about my beliefs, and I do not shy away from sharing those views.
"However, last night in a moment of disappointment, I wrote vulgar words that crossed the line, words that are inconsistent with my values and my family's values. For this, I am deeply sorry and ashamed. This is a really painful way to fail my family, friends and community."
Jon Venverloh issued a separate statement obtained by ABC News distancing himself from his wife’s remarks.
"Let me be clear: I did not make the remarks that have so upset the community," Venverloh's statement said. "I was not present when they were made. I have never encouraged such thinking or opinions, and I don't agree with them in any way whatsoever. They do not represent who I am nor who my family is in any way.
"On the contrary, I have been an active champion of diversity and inclusion and we have funded significant projects to benefit the underserved."
This article originally appeared on the Redwood City-Woodside Patch
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