Tennessee school board member censured for calling female student ‘hot’

Board rep Keith Ervin also put his arm around female student, hugged her from side before making comment

Published Apr 13, 2026  •  3 minute read

The Washington County Board of Education in Tennessee called an emergency meeting after board member Keith Ervin, left, made an inappropriate comment about a female high school student during a livestreamed meeting on April 2. Photo by YouTube

A school board meeting in Tennessee has blown up into a national controversy after a board member made a comment about a teenage student that many in the community found was deeply inappropriate.

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It all started on April 2 during a livestreamed Washington County Board of Education meeting. Board member Keith Ervin turned to a female student sitting beside him — a student representative from David Crockett High School — and said, “God, you’re hot. Do you know that? Damn. Where do you go to school at?”

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Moment caught people off guard

The student had just finished asking questions about career and technical education when Ervin put his arm around her and hugged her from the side before making the comment, per NBC News. Some board members at the table chuckled awkwardly and the meeting moved on.

But the clip didn’t go away; it spread quickly online, sparking outrage and prompting the board to call an emergency meeting on April 8 to address it.

The board ultimately voted to censure Ervin — a formal condemnation of his conduct that doesn’t remove him from office, per NBC News. Notably, this isn’t his first controversy. Records show he was previously censured in 2009 for making a “lewd, juvenile gesture of a sexual nature” during a classroom discussion, per NBC affiliate WSMV.

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Censure didn’t go far enough for some

One father, whose fiery remarks quickly went viral, stood up and challenged the board directly after being told he couldn’t formally ask a question, per People.

“Well, I’m asking a question. You don’t have to answer,” he said. “But let’s just say if you were really offended by that, just raise your hand. If it doesn’t offend you, keep your hand down.”

No hands went up.

“Do you see what I’m saying here, guys? How would you like your kid talked to like that?”

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He didn’t stop there

“We have to worry about our kids getting shot up in schools and all this other stuff, right? But what we don’t need to be worrying about is the comments of a man to a minor. Would you want your kid around that guy without a camera around? I wouldn’t,” he said, drawing loud applause, per People.

“I’m gonna tell you straight up that if this guy still has a job here soon, I’m going to do whatever I can to raise as much money as I can to get every single one of y’all out of here. No joke.”

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Turning directly to Ervin, he added: “Look at your face — you don’t even care. This is your community that you’re supposed to be serving. Look at the distraction. You put us on the map — nationally embarrassed us. And you don’t even have the backbone just to walk off, dude.”

Some members called on Ervin to resign. “It’s hard for the school system. And I think the right thing for you to do is resign,” one said, per ABC7Chicago.com.

Others urged leniency. “Keith has already been found guilty in social media court, but I choose grace,” another board member said, per ABC7Chicago.com.

Ervin pushed back on backlash

Reading from a prepared statement, Ervin insisted his comment had been misunderstood.

“Obviously I’ve seen the clip. Look, I get it, if that’s all you’re seeing, I understand why people are reacting the way they are,” he said. “But that’s not the full conversation, not even close.”

He claimed he wasn’t commenting on the student’s appearance at all. “When I mentioned she was hot, I meant she was on a roll, it was nothing to do with her appearance,” he said, adding that he had simply been trying to praise her performance.

“There was no disrespect meant and I apologize to her and her family,” he said, noting that the viral clip only showed a few seconds of a two-hour meeting, per NBC News.

Not everyone was buying it. As he finished speaking, someone in the audience shouted back: “I watched it; you’re a liar,” per NBC News.

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