Parents upset after Seneca Valley School Board President makes controversial post online

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — An inflammatory social media post has a lot of parents and community members outraged.

Some parents said the Seneca Valley school board president, Eric DiTullio, shared a meme on his personal Facebook page, allegedly making fun of actor Matthew McConaughey, who spoke at the White House earlier this week about the mass school shooting in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas. In his emotional speech, the actor talked about the victims, their families and called for gun legislation.

“And the fact that our school board president who was elected by us to lead our children into the future would post such an insensitive, disgusting meme was really just gutting and infuriating,” said parent Megan Hall.

Megan Hall went to Seneca Valley and lives in the community. She plans to enroll her two young kids in the district and was upset when she saw the post.

“I was furious. Sick to my stomach — just made my stomach drop out because this can happen anywhere and it’s not funny. There’s nothing funny about it,” said Hall.

Some parents said they want DiTullio to resign, and Hall agrees. She said he should be held to a higher standard.

“I think he showed an astonishing lack of judgement in this situation,” said Hall.

DiTullio deleted the post. He sent Channel 11 a statement saying, “While it was not my intention, I recognize the sharing of a third-party post to my personal Facebook page yesterday was upsetting to some. I lost sight of the fact that memes are deigned to be open for interpretation and failed to consider how this might be perceived. I do not take what occurred in Uvalde lightly. And I certainly do not take lightly the killing of 19 children and their two teachers. I am sorry for the negative light this shed on the district. I am also sorry if this negatively reflected on my fellow board members and their hard work that benefits our district. Moving forward, I intend to think carefully of my words, especially those that are shared in a social media setting.”

However, some parents said there was no room for humor in this situation.

“He made us look like a laughingstock. He was embarrassing. He showed an appalling lack of respect for the parents and children in the school district and in our community,” said Hall.

Channel 11 reached out to the Seneca Valley School District for comment, but we are still waiting to hear back.

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