Video: Lacamas Magazine provides video of public comments
CAMAS — Several community members and educators addressed the Camas School District Board of Directors Monday night to speak up in support of Principal Liza Sejkora, who resigned last week, and to advocate for free speech.
Lacamas Magazine Editor Ernie Geigenmiller captured the public comments on a video, published at LacamasMagazine.com.
Sejkora created a firestorm of backlash, prompted by 14 words and a shrug emoji posted on the afternoon of Jan. 26, the day basketball legend Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
“Not gonna lie. Seems to me that Karma caught up with a rapist today,’’ wrote Dr. Liza Sejkora.
An hour later, as the full scope of the tragedy became clear, including the fact that Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna was among the dead, Sejkora deleted her initial post and followed up with another.
“I just deleted a post. It was deleted because the comments missed my Intent,” she wrote. “You are free to judge me for the post just as I am free to judge the person the post was about. Also — if you are shocked I speak my mind on my page, I am honestly surprised.”
A short time later, Sejkora also deleted that post, but screenshots began to circulate and a maelstrom of backlash welled up from the Camas community, and around the world.
On Feb. 3, Sejkora made a more public apology, again to Lacamas Magazine, calling her statements “thoughtless,” and “a poor decision.”
Video: Camas High School principal issues apology for her comments following death of Kobe Bryant
The district accepted Sejkora’s resignation on Feb. 7.
With threats posted online and the school embroiled in the controversy, Camas Schools Superintendent Jeff Snell made the decision to place Sejkora on paid administrative leave.
Nearly a hundred students later marched out of the school in protest over Sejkora’s comments, calling them an “underrepresentation” of their view. While chanting Kobe’s name, they decried their principal’s comments.
UPDATE: Camas High School principal resigns
