SOUTH HADLEY — A School Committee member has resigned after a spat with a parent over mask requirements sparked an online brouhaha.
“The big picture is this whole targeting of school boards,” Charles Miles said in an interview Monday. He asserted there is a “large contingent of the fringe, far-right who are making school boards their target.”
Miles said he experienced this firsthand after responding to a parent who disputed the School Committee’s unanimous vote Aug. 5 to require masks inside school buildings as a precaution against COVID-19. Miles wrote that the parent was “arguing for a policy that could end up killing children.”
The Massachusetts-based blog TBDailyNews.com published Miles’ letter to the parent and accused Miles of abusing children by supporting the mask mandate. The blog also published photos of Miles’ children, maskless, which the family had previously posted on Facebook.
“I was furious” when that happened, Miles told The Republican.
“(That) someone that used to be a teacher would post photos of other people’s children, with comments about them — it says he may be exercising his free speech rights, but he’s a despicable human being,” Miles said.
TBDailyNews is operated by Aidan Kearney, a formerly a teacher in a Worcester County public school. The website and its predecessor, Turtle Boy Sports, have stirred controversy for years, frequently using people’s social media posts to shame them.
Miles read his resignation letter at the Sept. 2 school board meeting, saying he was stepping down because incidents like this were affecting his mental health.
“I’ve rarely said this in a public forum: I’m a disabled veteran with severe PTSD,” his letter reads. “The last year of personal attacks and failed leadership at the state level has aggravated that to the point where I have to decide: is it worth it to continue? Or is it time, after all these years, to put my own mental and physical health first?”
Miles served in the U.S. Army from 1990-92. He deployed to Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
“I left the army after the Gulf War as a conscientious objector,” he told The Republican.
Asked if, in hindsight, he would respond differently to the parent who questioned the mask mandate, Miles said no.
“I did not say anything that was not true. I could have been more tactful,” he said.
School Committee Chair Allison Schlachter said at last week’s meeting that Miles’ decision to resign is an example of him modeling for the community.
“I feel really glad that you’re making a choice that’s best for you,” she said. “Being a clinical social worker, I like to see people prioritizing their mental health.”
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