BOISE, Idaho — Boise School Board member Shiva Rajbhandari has issued an apology following an explicit tweet he made criticizing Governor Brad Little after signing H71 into law.
H71 "The Vulnerable Child Protective Act" outlaw's gender-affirming care for transgender minors; including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries. The law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
After Governor Little signed the bill into law on April 4, Rajbhandari wrote a tweet directed at the governor, using strong language.
Boise School Board members met behind closed doors for an executive session to discuss possible actions to take over the tweet during their school board meeting on Monday.
After close to 2.5 hours in executive session -- an hour before the open meeting, and nearly 90 minutes at the end -- the Boise School District Board of Trustees released the following statement:
"Following a recent post on social media by Trustee Rajbhandari, the Boise School District Board of Trustees met in executive session to discuss ramifications of his behavior.
The Board concluded that Mr. Rahjabandari had violated the Board of Trustees Code of Ethics. Mr. Rahjbhandari apologized to the Board and the Board has accepted his apology. This does not, however, mean that Mr. Rahjbhandari will not face consequences for his actions. Mr. Rajbhandari has outlined the steps he will take to rebuild trust with the Board and the community that are consistent with our District’s values of Respect, Dignity, Honesty, Responsibility and Teamwork."
Rajbhandari issued the following apology:
"I’m sure everyone here has seen my profane tweet on my personal account toward the Governor. I want to address that today. To our patrons, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I communicated in a way that was crude and cruel and violated your trust in me. To our students, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that during a time of crisis, I failed to act as a role model for all of you and that I failed to represent the articulate, unrelenting, and kind people that I know all of you to be. To our staff, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I failed in my personal life to abide by the same standards that you are asked to abide by. And to our Board, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that my actions reflected poorly on each of your characters and values. To begin the process of rebuilding trust, I will not participate in any graduation ceremonies as a Trustee and will step down from the Governance committee."
The district's Governance committee is one of several administrative committees at the Boise School District.
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