A week long drama that began with a Tik Tok video seemingly came to an end last night as Wabash District #348 school board member Ryan Peter read a prepared statement at the beginning of the monthly school board meeting. In the now deleted video, Peter was critical of the Wabash County Health Department and their protocol for quarantining and isolating positive COVID-19 cases and those in contact to those cases and saying those contacted by the health department should lie about their contacts.
The video touched off a firestorm of criticism with many calling for Peter to resign. But in his two and a half minute statement, Peter left no doubt, he is not resigning…
Peter did apologize for the off color comments in the video and in the future he’ll be more mindful of the content in the videos. After Peter’s statement, there were no comments from any other school board members or superintendent Dr. Chuck Bleyer.
Despite the social media criticism, very few people attended last night’s meeting that included three local law enforcement officers on hand for security.
Full Text Of Ryan Peter’s Statement:
“I want to address our community, board, administrators, and teachers today by apologizing for off colored videos I created on my Tik Tok account. They have been permanently removed. “Hey kids” is how I greet my audience nearly each time I record a video and has nothing to do with actual children. Moving forward, I will be more mindful of my published content.
I am just like every other person, born with original sin and flawed. I apologize for my language. Jesus Christ would instruct no one to lie. I want to be clear, I have absolutely nothing against any individual at any health department. I am sure they are great people.
I am fully aware there are people in the community who disagree with me, and this is fine. I do not want them silenced. I have just as much right to my opinion as they do theirs. This is the beauty of free speech. But it should be known there are a lot of people in the community who agree with me. They stay in the shadows for fear of being publicly shamed and humiliated. I speak for them.
I pray daily for the repose of each soul we have lost to this nasty illness. I pray daily for people who are currently infected or are still recovering, that the hand of Jesus Christ bring them back to good health. I pray daily for our students, especially the ones who are missing so much time in a classroom, as well as losing pieces of their adolescent experience.
In closing, I would be happy to discuss this matter at a later date individually with anyone who would like. Currently emotions are running high and we have other matters at hand to deal with. It is time to put this behind us and move forward.
Mr. Shuler, under no circumstances will I resign, and I will finish serving my term. Thank you.”