TEMPERANCE —The Bedford Board of Education voted 5-2 Thursday to censure and request the resignation of board member Todd Bruning, who was the subject of a recent community protest calling for his removal over his social media posts.
During a virtual board meeting, members discussed two resolutions — the first being a censure and the second calling for Mr. Bruning’s resignation. The resolutions followed long-standing community complaints regarding comments and memes posted on Mr. Bruning’s social media that have been described to be anti-Muslim or anti-LGBTQ, and racist. Board president Lisa McCaig read some of the posts out loud during the meeting.
Mr. Bruning said he disagrees with the criticism of his personal social media posts.
“I disagree 100 percent,” he said during the meeting. “A lot of that stuff was on my [personal] Facebook page and there’s nothing mentioned about Bedford Public… there’s nothing bad said about any of the students of Bedford on the memes.”
Mr. Bruning added that he feels the community has “cherry-picked” the posts they choose to complain about and said none of his memes have been reflected in his votes or activities pertaining to the school board. He’s previously argued that he is nondiscriminatory in his postings, which he said make fun of people of all colors, creeds, and backgrounds.
“I have them all across the board,” he said. “It’s not like I selectively do it, if I think it’s funny, I post it. None of this has come into play at all with my decisions I make for the school.”
District Secretary Ronald Koch said Mr. Bruning should be mindful of his influence, as local families are aware of his posts.
“We have some guidelines that are presented fairly clearly that you should be aware of, and it seems like you’ve gone against a number of those as far as what’s good for our schools,” Mr. Koch said before commending community members for speaking up.
Treasurer Diane ‘Dee’ Janney strongly opposed the resolution and castigated the board for “bowing down” to groups calling for Mr. Bruning’s removal.
“Shall we all throw away our phones? Shall we all throw away anything that may offend someone here?.... I’m sorry but this is out of hand,” she said before joining with Mr. Bruning in voting against both resolutions.
Board member Megan Kaun also commented that she did not condone Mr. Bruning’s social media posts.
“Any good behaviors he’s engaged in does not make up for the bad behaviors.… It’s not good for our district, it’s not good for our students, and it’s not good for our alumni,” she said.
Mr. Bruning denounced the resolution calling on him to resign as being “for show.”
“This means absolutely nothing because you know as well as I do that you can’t remove me. I have to be recalled by the voters,” Mr. Bruning said.
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First Published June 19, 2020, 6:48 p.m.
