GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston ISD Superintendent Dr. Jerry Gibson is out after a closed-door meeting late Monday night.
The news broke at midnight after a back-and-forth over sexist comments Gibson made during a school district event.
The school board announced a deal in the situation which will see Gibson resign effective June 30. For now, he'll step away from day-to-day operations with a temporary leader in place.
“It's a resignation agreement. An expression was made by Dr. Gibson of trying to bring closure to this. We were all together. It's very difficult to do,” GISD Board President Anthony Brown said following the meeting.
As part of the deal to resign Gibson will get his remaining salary for this year and a buyout from the district.
This all comes after comments Gibson made during the groundbreaking ceremony for the district’s new high school.
Gibson allegedly called women "worker bees," saying they worked behind the scenes to make men look good. He also said a man was needed to "push this through."
Earlier Monday night, Galveston residents shared their opinions during the meeting. Some defended the superintendent.
"I know that this was not his intention," Ball High School senior Bailey Gonzalez said.
Others were critical.
"Misogyny is not the policy of this district," GISD parent Nicole Obert said.
Gibson’s comments were recorded by KHOU 11 media partner, the Galveston Daily News. In the recording, Gibson is heard saying: "…done behind the scenes and keep pushing and taking care of the details. That’s, that’s what they do, men, isn’t that right? They take care of the details for us and they do their best to make us look good even though we don’t give them much to work with. But we’re, we’re saying, we need a man there to push this through."
The Galveston Daily News reported that Gibson disputed those comments until the newspaper posted an audio recording of the ceremony where he made the statements.
"It’s that he said no to a newspaper, 'No, I didn’t say that. I think it was something like ‘No ma’am,’” GISD parent Lauren Scott said. “No, sir. We all heard it. It was on a mic. It was in front of at least 100 people ... students. And just for the record, I have a son, and I don’t think that he needs to listen to that trash either."
But still, others considered the superintendent’s remarks and actions lapses in judgment that they felt should be forgiven.
"If anybody in this room has ever said anything they wish that they hadn’t said, or hadn’t said anything that they wish that they’d said differently, raise your hand because I’m in the club that has," GISD parent Archie Hart said.