Galveston school board president on resignation of superintendent: 'An expression was made by Dr. Gibson of trying to bring closure to this'

Dr. Jerry Gibson is out as the superintendent of the Galveston Independent School District (GISD), Houston-based media outlets reported. 

GISD’s trustees held a special meeting on Monday in which they discussed Gibson’s employment in response to the uproar caused by his remarks at a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new campus for Ball High School last month.

Gibson called the women on a political action committee (PAC) that assisted with the acquisition of funds for the $189 million replacement of the district's lone high school “worker bees.” 

“They are going to get it done behind the scenes and keep pushing and take care of the details,” Gibson, whom GISD hired in 2021, said during the ceremony. “Isn’t that right, men?” 

“They do their best to make us look good even though we don’t give them much to work with,” he added. “But we need a man to push this through.”

Citing the island city’s lone major publication, Houston Daily reported several members of the Galveston community – in addition to GISD Board of Trustees President Anthony Brown – took issue with Gibson’s comments. 

Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that Gibson apologized ahead of the meeting, which consisted of hours of debate. 

Just after the proceedings seeped into the early hours of Tuesday, the school board unanimously approved the acceptance of his resignation.

Brown said the item pertains to “a resignation agreement,” Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported. 

“An expression was made by Dr. Gibson of trying to bring closure to this,” the school board president said in the report. “We were all together. It's very difficult to do.” 

Per KHOU, the district and Gibson agreed he’d stay on through June 30. 

He’ll cease with his part in day-to-day operations with someone else temporarily in his place, the station reported.

"In the interim, though, commencing immediately, he will assume the position of retiring superintendent, where he will provide us special assistance on a day-to-day basis on matters on which we request assistance," Brown said, KTRK reported.