Palm Beach County school board to rejoin group 3 years after ex-leader's racist remarks

Three years after leaving the Florida School Board Association in protest of racist remarks made by its president, Palm Beach County school leaders have voted to rejoin the organization, which provides training to elected officials and lobbies on behalf of member school boards.

On Wednesday, the board voted 5 to 1 to renew the district's membership now that former president Chris Patricca, who remains a Lee County school board member, is no longer involved in the organization.

Board member Alexandria Ayala voted against the move to rejoin and board member Edwin Ferguson was absent from the vote. There was no discussion prior to the vote.

In 2021, Patricca said school principals faced challenges when working with immigrant students because the students are "fascinated by plumbing" and spent extra time in the bathroom "because they've never seen running water before." She'd been in the top job at the association for just three months.

Community groups, including Lake Worth Beach's Guatemalan-Maya Center, immediately said the remarks were offensive and joined other groups in calling for her resignation. Later, videos surfaced of Patricca saying she "doesn't really know" what challenges LGTBQ+ students face, angering LGBTQ+ community groups as well.

School board association head whose remarks offended several groups stayed for 3 more years

But Patricca retained her role as president and remained involved with the organization until 2023.

She no longer serves as a leader or a member of the FSBA's board of directors, according to the group's website. Patricca, a former attorney and adjunct professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, has since served on the board of the Florida High School Athletics Association — where in 2023 she was one of two votes to keep questions about student athletes' periods on registration forms that parents called invasive.

However, Patricca's three years of involvement with the association was enough to make Ayala, an outgoing school board member, unequivocally reject any future membership.

"She made completely unacceptable disgusting remarks, not only about Hispanic students but also about LGBTQ students," Ayala said at a board meeting in August. "She said the things she said. The organization then kept her on for three years. She was involved from 2020 until 2023 as immediate past president. They did nothing."

Palm Beach County weighs rejoining association since 'racist,' as one board member put it, is gone

Board members Edwin Ferguson, Frank Barbieri and Marcia Andrews previously agreed that it's time to reconsider joining the organization, and board chair Karen Brill said she agreed with both their viewpoints and Ayala's.

"There was a high-ranking member of FSBA who, as best I can tell, was a racist," Ferguson said in August. "That person is no longer affiliated with FSBA, and that FSBA was a great resource to the board while we were members."

Membership in the association costs the school district about $30,000 each year, Ayala said. It provides online training and consultations with school board members, assistance with election tracking, superintendent searches and legal and financial services, according to its website.

From 2021: PBC school board drops FSBA membership over remarks about Guatemalan, LGBTQ students

The organization also releases a legislative platform each year and was represented by four registered lobbyists to the Florida Legislature in 2024, according to lobbyist registration records.

Discussions of rejoining are especially important as three new school board members will soon replace Ayala, Barbieri and Barbara McQuinn, who did not seek re-election. The board voted Wednesday at its last meeting together before new board members Matthew Lane, Virginia Savietto and Gloria Branch are sworn in later this month.

"Considering the fact that we will have not one, not two, but three persons who have never been on (school) boards before, it seems to me that that would be a prudent use of district funds for us as a school district to rejoin," Ferguson said in August.

All of Florida's other largest urban school districts are represented on association's board of directors, including the Miami-Dade, Broward, Duval, Pinellas, Orange and Hillsborough school boards.

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Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at . Help support our work; subscribe today!