Joseph Armenti resigned from the Robbinsville school board following the condemnation by school officials and gay rights advocates for his using the term “faggot” during the September 23rd board meeting. The word was used in response to comments made by a RHS student who advocated a program to report students who use offensive language. According to Mr. Armenti, the student used the word first as an example of offensive speech and has argued that his use was taken out of context. He has been quoted as saying, “If my son wants to call somebody a faggot he should be allowed to; it’s his First Amendment right”. He has also stated that he would issue an apology and attend a gay rights forum at RHS on Saturday.

Mr. Armenti was elected to a one year unexpired term on the board last April. The school board will hold a special meeting on October 13th at RHS to vote on the resignation.

The Robbinsville school board approved a budget for 2008-2009 of $32 million. This would increase the tax rate to $1.22 per $100 of assessed value, a five cent increase over from the previous year. The lack of state aid was cited as the main reason for the increase. Robbinsville Township is expected to receive $2.8 million in state aid making it the second lowest recipient of aid in Mercer County.

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