Regional Industry & News

TN school board member who told female student ‘God, you’re hot’ pleads not guilty to assault day after re-election loss

Keith Ervin received significant public backlash earlier this year after he told a female student “God, you’re hot” during a school board meeting.

What This Story Is About

- The Washington County school board member who came under fire earlier this year for telling a female student, “God, you’re hot,” has pleaded not guilty to assault.

Why It Matters

- His plea comes a day after he lost his re-election bid to represent Washington County’s District 1 on the school board.

What Happens Next

- Court proceedings will continue and Ervin will lose his school board seat to whoever wins the general election this November.

Catch Up

- School board member who told student ‘God, you’re hot’ loses bid for re-election in Tennessee

- Censured East Tennessee school board member charged with assault

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WSMV) - Keith Ervin, the Washington County school board member who came under fire earlier this year for telling a female student, “God, you’re hot,” has pleaded not guilty to assault, according to NBC affiliate WCYB.

WCYB reported that Ervin pleaded not guilty on Friday, citing his attorney.

He was charged with assault in May after he was recorded telling a female high school student weeks earlier, “God, you’re hot,” after she gave a presentation to the board. The comment sparked a major public outcry and drew condemnation from the board, prompting Ervin to issue a statement that he had meant that the teen girl was “on a roll” due to her questions during the meeting.

However, the teen herself joined the outcry, calling his remarks “sexist” and “derogatory.” She also called the rest of the school board “cowards” who taught her that “no one will stand up for her.”

Ervin was censured and two of his fellow board members urged him to resign, which he declined.

His plea was entered a day after he lost his re-election bid to represent the Washington County School Board District 1. The person who won the primary for that seat, Republican Vince Walters, will now face off against Democratic primary winner Mary Grace Wooten for the seat in the November general election.