Parents pack meeting to protest school board member's misogynistic tweets

A Northwest suburban school member resigned Monday after a series of offensive tweets about the weekend's Women's March, including one labeling participants "vagina screechers" and another saying the demonstration was a reason to eliminate women's voting rights.

Dathan Paterno, a member of the Park Ridge-Niles Elementary School District 64 board, deleted his Twitter account after posting the tweets. He resigned in a letter apologizing for the remarks and stating they were "misinterpreted."

"On Sunday, January 22, 2017, my posts on my personal Twitter account unwittingly spilled into my role on the Board," the resignation letter states. "I wrote some provocative tweets re: the recent women's marches. In retrospect, they were inappropriate and pushed too far in some ways. While I merely meant to harshly criticize some of the protesters (especially the very angry, hostile, vulgar, and violent ones) and question the motives of some of them, my tweets were understandably misinterpreted to mean that I disrespect or hate all the protesters. Of course, this isn't true, but the damage was done."

Paterno, a psychologist in Park Ridge, did not return a phone call for comment.

Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20170123/news/170129614/


Park Ridge-Niles Elementary School District 64 board member Dathan Paterno resigned Monday after sending this and other tweets about the Women's March held Saturday.