California school board president caught on hot mic saying ‘f***’ you to anti-vaxx mom

Incident is among many seen between parents and educators over Covid

The president of a school board in Los Alamitos, California, has apologised after she was caught saying “f*** you” during a parent’s tirade against Covid vaccines.

Marlys Davidson, the president of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education, said in a statement that she was “deeply sorry for the inappropriate comment” on Wednesday.

The expletive appeared to be aimed at a parent who was attacking Ms Davidson and members of the school board for introducing mandates on vaccines and masks in Los Alamitos.

A colleague of Ms Davidson told parents earlier in the meeting that anybody opposing vaccines and mask were putting “themselves first” ahead of children – many of whom are still ineligible for immunisation.

When a parent told the school board “that was very rude of you to say, [that] parents are selfish”, Ms Davidson was caught on her mic saying “f*** you* as members of the audience clapped.

In her statement, she said: “I am going go personally apologise to the speaker who most certainly deserves to know that when the member of the public address the Board of Education, they must be heard with respect.”

She continued: “I reaffirm my commitment to serve our community with dignity and integrity, and I hope they will accept my sincere apology”.

According to KTLA5-TV, the parent who was apparently insulted said Ms Davidson “needs to step down” and that “there’s not taking that back”.

The parent, Lauren Roupoli, was among many members of the public to attend the meeting of the Los Alamitos school board to argue against Covid mandates.

All schools in California are required to ask students and staff to wear masks, and the US Food and Drug Administration only last week recommended approval of a vaccine for five to 11 year-olds.

Rolling it out could take weeks and requires approval from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Independent has approached the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education for further comment.