The Charleston County School District Board of Trustees in South Carolina has voted to censure a board member and remove him from his leadership roles after he allegedly threatened a transgender teacher, according to a local report.
Board member Ed Kelley has faced calls to resign after the controversy was brought up at a public comment session on March 27.
"A board member who shall not be named applauded the parent for coming to speak to him because the board member said if his child would have said this, then the board member would’ve showed up at the teacher’s house with a gun," Adrienne Lett said at the meeting, according to WCSC-TV.
The controversy began after Kelley said there was an incident in which a parent contacted him about their child coming home from school upset because a teacher told the class that they were transgender and would be using male pronouns instead of female, the station reported.
In a statement given to the news outlet on Monday, Kelley claimed he had actually said, "Given how understandably agitated he was, I applaud this father for making the right choice to write an email instead of pick up a gun."
However, the board voted to censure Kelley with a vote of six yeas, zero nays and one abstention.
The Charleston County School District issued a statement on the matter last week, saying it was looking into a personnel matter but did not identify anyone involved.
"Currently, a staff member is on administrative leave as we look into a personnel matter," the statement said. "This decision is not punitive, as we often place employees on administrative leave while we gather all the facts."
