Crestwood School Board member Robert Derwin resigns

WRIGHT TWP. — Embattled Crestwood School Board Member Robert Derwin resigned from the post late Wednesday evening, according to a media release sent out by the School District.

“The Crestwood School District received the resignation of School Board member Robert Derwin on the evening of Wednesday, Jan.3, 2024, effective immediately,” the release said. “The past and recent social media posts and videos of Mr. Robert Derwin do not reflect the standards we hold at the Crestwood School District, rather the language and actions are inappropriate and not condoned.”

Derwin’s Facebook page included multiple posts calling Vice-President Kamala Harris a “whore,” “Black whore” and “pig.” He has similarly posted ad hominem attacks on President Joe Biden. Wednesday afternoon he said in a phone interview that he regretted bringing race into the issue and apologized “If I offended” anyone in the Black community, but stood by his “whore” comment, saying the word does not necessarily mean sexual promiscuity. He said a property owner who overcharges for rent is also a “whore” in his opinion.

The Wilkes-Barre chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issued a statement this week calling for Derwin’s resignation. In a phone interview Daryl Lewis, the chapter’s executive committee assistant secretary, said the accusation directly reflects the way some people talked about black female slaves in nation’s past.

“Using allegations of promiscuity, lasciviousness and moral depravity is a technique that literally goes back since slavery. It’s often that women who were owned or did not have a right to choose were sexually abused, and the wives of the people who owned them would accuse them of being seducers or whores,” Lewis explained. “It is this instance of highlighting her race and the insistence of throwing the accusation of ‘whore’ that provides the overtone of racism.”

Derwin was appointed by the board to complete the term of Randy Swank, who resigned without explanation in December. Derwin was not at the meeting when the board opted to give him the post. He ran for a seat on the board in November and came in sixth in a race for five seats, losing by about 400 votes.

The press release from the district notes that people interested in filling the now-vacant seat can submit letters to Solicitor Jack Dan by email at jack.dean@csdcomets.org or hand deliver them to the secondary campus, 281 South Mountain Blvd., Mountain Top, Pa, 18707. Deadline for submitting letters is Jan. 12 at 4 p.m.