CANTON -- Canton Central School Board of Education President Barbara Beekman says comments made during a board meeting were not intended to offend residents of Hermon, DeKalb or Canton.

A quote included in an article by the Watertown Daily Times prompted a petition calling for an apology from Beekman. Details on the petition can be found here. Beekman said the quote was misconstrued.

Beekman said she actually issued the following message, which can be seen on the district's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CantonCentralSchoolDistrict, prior to the launch of the petition.

The message in its entirety follows:

"A MESSAGE TO THE HERMON-DEKALB AND CANTON COMMUNITIES:

I would like to take a moment to clarify comments attributed to me in the March 28, 2014 edition of the Watertown Daily Times article that many of you have seen.

While I did point out statistical and demographic differences between the two communities of Canton and Hermon-DeKalb, I never implied that Canton was the “better” of the two. Nor do I, or anyone on the Board of Education, think that the citizens of Hermon-DeKalb do not care about education or their students.

Nor do I, or my fellow Board members, feel that the farming communities of both towns are anything less than vital to each of us. One only has to look at Canton’s thriving FFA chapter and their long list of accomplishments to see how important this program is to all of us.

The discussion request from Hermon-DeKalb was declined because talks had already begun with Potsdam; there was nothing more to that decision. This was conveyed to the Hermon-DeKalb superintendent shortly after our receipt of the request last April.

In this time, fraught with educational and financial uncertainties, it is easy to condense conversations into interesting sound bites. It’s unfortunate that the selective quotes printed did not in any way convey my true intent. I am sincerely sorry that that happened.

Barbara Beekman, President, Canton Central School Board of Education"