Caught on Camera: Lee County School District live streams themselves smack-talking teachers union president

Reporter: Claire Galt Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
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livestream
Credit: Lee County School District

The Lee County School District landed itself in hot water after live-streaming negotiators talking smack about the president of the teachers’ union.

The hot mic moment caught negotiators making insulting comments regarding the appearance of Kevin Daly, the teachers’ union president.

“He looks like a slob every time he goes to a professional meeting,” said a Lee County School District representative.

“How are you feeling, Kevin? And you’re the voice of the dress code? He’s carrying the torch,” another Lee County School District representative said.

The lash-out session stemmed from a conversation regarding the dress code on Monday during a YouTube livestream from the Lee County School District account.

Once negotiators were made aware that their microphones were still on, the live stream abruptly ended, and the account deleted any evidence of the broadcast from the internet.

A Lee County School District spokesman contacted WINK News to release a statement regarding the incendiary ranting session.

“We aim to maintain a professional dialogue between the school district and the teachers union during negotiations at all times,” the spokesman stated. “These comments were made in what was intended to be a private caucus.”

The issue with the statement was that said comments were released for the public to listen to, including the teachers’ union.

The comments spoken during the livestream insulted Daly’s attire and appearance.

The frustration from negotiators came following the discussion regarding the teachers’ dress code during the ongoing contract talks.

The union proposed setting dress code standards district-wide, removing the current code, which varied from school to school.

Following the statement released by the Lee County School spokesman, WINK News asked if an apology was in order. No response was given at this time.

The teachers union released a statement regarding the livestream fail, stating that negotiators “jeopardized the ability for good faith, interest-based and collective bargaining.”

On Tuesday, Daly agreed to talk with WINK about what happened.

“If you’re going to make unprofessional comments and say unprofessional things and call me a slob and have other people endorse it, that certainly gets in the way of us– our ability to work,” Daly said.

Daly said that despite the ugly comments directed his way, he will continue to represent the teachers as the union works on a new contract with Lee County Schools.

Daly said it’s not about him, his sense of style, or alleged lack thereof. It’s about respect.

“The idea that they’re comfortable enough to say those things about me, as the head of the organization, makes me question what they say about employees who aren’t me,” Daly said.

When WINK News broke this story Monday night, it was reported the district deleted the entire proceeding from its YouTube page.

That is a Florida Sunshine Law violation.

But late Tuesday morning, Lee County Schools reposted the bargaining session, minus the hot mic moment.

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