The president of the Delaware State Education Association has resigned over blog posts he wrote in roughly a decade ago.
Mike Matthews stepped down Wednesday night after the blog posts he wrote between 2006 and 2009 resurfaced.
The posts were part of Matthews' blog called “Down With Absolutes!” Several contained racist and sexist content or made light of sexual violence, according to internet archive website WaybackMachine and reports from WHYY.
DSEA officials say the largest teachers’ union in the state first learned of the blog posts when WHYY reached out to them Tuesday.
Following a meeting of the DSEA executive board Wednesday evening, DSEA Vice President Stephanie Ingram announced she will be filling the role of president until the end of the term in July 2020.
In a statement, Ingram calls the posts “completely inappropriate and contrary to the views or values of the educators who make up the DSEA.”
In a statement prior to Matthews’ resignation, Atnre Alleyne of education non-profit DelawareCAN said Matthews’ blog posts “demean women, insult minorities and religious beliefs and joke about child molestation and gang rape.” He added that they have no place in our society,” and should be met with “strong … repercussions.”
Mike Matthews was elected DSEA president in Spring 2017, and is currently an elementary school teacher in the Red Clay Consolidated School District.
Matthews declined to comment to Delaware Public Media.
