Clark County School Board trustee under fire for Facebook post about protesters

Kevin Child, the first-term member of the Clark County School Board, is drawing fire for asking his followers on Facebook whether they would ever run over protesters.

Child’s post came late Thursday, just hours after a truck driver plowed through crowds, killing dozens, during a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France. It also follows news of a gunman killing five police officers and wounding several others during a peaceful protest last week in Dallas.

“If protesters are in the road and blocking it and not in the crosswalk…would you run them over?” Child asked in the post.

A publicly elected trustee leading the nation's fifth-largest school district posted this question on Facebook #nved pic.twitter.com/HRqnvAzq2t

— Neal Morton (@nealtmorton) July 15, 2016

Comments from followers ranged from a definitive “yes” to coyly urging Child to “take a guess.” One commenter said he wouldn’t if it was a peaceful protest, prompting Child to respond, “And if it wasn’t?”

Another commented, “It would be way (too) much paperwork! Not worth it!”

Child, 54, later deleted the post after saying in a phone interview Thursday night that he would not remove it. He said

he was repeating a question he had heard on CNN.

“I’m just finding out who’s the evil people in our community,” Child said. “I won’t take it down. I want to see who’s foolish enough to do that.”

He compared the question to asking whether his followers would vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or support “getting rid of Ruth Ginserburg.”

That’s likely a reference to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the U.S. Supreme Court justice who this week faced criticism for making disparaging comments about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“I’m not advocating anybody to hurt anybody. I just want to know the feel of the country,” Child said.

He later posted, “Thoughts and prayers go out to France.”

On Twitter, reaction to Child’s original post was swift and critical.

Some community members demanded he apologize and resign from the board, which oversees the education of about 320,000 students.

Others highlighted similarly questionable posts that have appeared on Child’s social media accounts before and after his surprise election in 2014 to a heavily Hispanic district. He’ll be up for election again in 2018.

@stevecofield @nealtmorton there was also this jem from 2013: pic.twitter.com/FtYo6h03wP

— Dave Singleton (@dfsingleton) July 15, 2016

In May 2013, for example, Child blamed parents with limited English proficiency for the poor academic performance of their children.

“Most of those are here illegally, and then (taxpayers) have to pay for these (lawbreakers)..NOT RIGHT!!” reads the post.

Victor Wakefield, a member of the State Board of Education, retweeted a screenshot of that post but noted that he would give Child the benefit of the doubt.

“But please think about the impact of your words as a public figure and role model for our students,” Wakefield wrote on Twitter.