Tempers flared at a Rochester City School District Board of Education budget session Tuesday night when a commissioner shouted down an activist.
- Beatriz LeBron called out Howard Eagle during a budget meeting.
- Eagle admits to catcalling LeBron.
- LeBron refuses to apologize.
One of those in attendance was Beatriz LeBron's 8-year old daughter.
The board commissioner says her daughter wanted to watch the meeting from the back of the room, but she turned around when she saw Howard Eagle.
"That's terrible because she shouldn't have to be involved in this," said LeBron. "She's eight, and she shouldn't be familiar with this individual but she is."
Eagle has been getting people out of their seat, and getting out of his at Rochester school board meetings for two generations. After all of the questions he's raised, he says he's never faced what happened on Tuesday.
"Not only doesn't she respect me as a parent, as a Rochester City School District parent, but she doesn't respect me as a human being," Eagle said.
As LeBron opened a conversation with fellow board member Judith Davis about her opposition to the board's proposed budget for the next school year, Eagle admitted that he and others began to "catcall" LeBron.
That's when LeBron opened up with an extended, full-throated rebuke of Eagle. First she dismissed Eagle and his group, then she began a personal attack on Eagle.
"I have lots of answers. You don’t have any answers. You can’t even pay your bills. You’re getting sued by the bank, but you have the audacity to ask the board how they can budget enough dollars and you’re getting sued by a bank," LeBron said. "Pay your bills sir. Take care of that thing on your neck."
The last reference LeBron made was to a nodule Eagle lives with.
The activist said he was hurt. He demanded an apology.
"Her behavior is inappropriate under any circumstances," Eagle said.
The first-term commissioner admits she could have gotten up and walked out of the room before her barrage. But LeBron says she will not apologize to a person who bullied her, and other women.
"At some point, a bully punches you, you're gonna punch back," LeBron said. "People can say it was personal but people can also say his attacks are personal and politically motivated. This is political and personal for him."
Eagle says he will ask the State Education Commissioner to respond to LeBron's outburst.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren called LeBron's actions wrong.
"An apology is definitely needed and deserved," Warren said. "It should not be something that is shown and displayed in that manner in front of all to see, but also when you think of the fact that these are people who are leading our schools."
The school board passed its budget 6-1 Tuesday. Davis was the only dissenting commissioner.
LeBron, a mother of five daughters, remains resolute in standing by her actions Tuesday.
"I want my children to view this as a learning opportunity but also to understand they don't have to accept bullying," LeBron said.
