The Delaware teachers union president resigned from his position Wednesday after offensive posts he made on a defunct blog between 2006 and 2009 came to light this week.

Mike Matthews, the often-outspoken union leader, offered his resignation to the Delaware State Education Association Executive Board and its members accepted it.

Matthews ran a blog called Down with Absolutes until 2009 when he made a final post. He often used that forum to comment on female state political figures in crude terms, denigrate Muslims and say other things the Board called "completely inappropriate."

"Regardless of the fact that these posts were created prior to Mr. Matthews becoming an educator and member of DSEA, they were completely inappropriate and contrary to the views or values of the educators who make up the DSEA," a statement said.

Matthews could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday night. He resigned at a DSEA meeting convened to discuss the blog posts, the union said.

Stephanie Ingram, the DSEA vice president and 4th grade school teacher at New Castle Elementary School, will take over until July 2020, when the presidential term ends.

Delaware education advocacy nonprofit DelawareCAN Executive Director Atnre Alleyne condemned Matthews' blog posts in a statement issued before the DSEA meeting.

“There is no place for the type of commentary found on DSEA President Mike Matthews' old blog in our society, and especially in our education system," Alleyne said. "His remarks demean women, insult minorities and religious beliefs and joke about child molestation and gang rape. Whether these comments were made a decade ago or a day ago, they need to be met with strong repudiation and repercussions."

Alleyene is a former Delaware Department of Education staffer.

Matthews' old blog posts were buried when he deleted the site in 2009. This week, WHYY published a story about them, citing an unnamed source who used the Internet archives website Wayback Machine to find them and then gave them to reporters.

The posts from Matthews blog still can be found on Wayback Machine.

There is a 2006 post which uses a slur for lesbians to describe former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner. There are other posts commenting on female political figures' bodies.

There are posts from 2005 which denigrate Muslims. There was a post from June 2006 with a header making a racial quip about then-U.S. Senate candidate Jan Ting. Other uncouth posts targeted national figures, such as Ann Coulter.

Many of the blog posts appear to be innocuous, though most still available online are irreverent or crude. Matthews posted about music, local politics and personal subjects.

"I do not know how DSEA will respond but I can imagine this is not how they want Delaware’s 12,000+ educators represented in the community," Alleyne's statement said.

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The teachers' union, which represents classroom teachers, specialists, and education support professionals working in Delaware’s public schools, began its own investigation into the blog posts after WHYY contacted its members about them.

DSEA wields tremendous clout over education policy in Delaware, with members on many major task forces and study groups dealing with schools. The union is a supporter of many Democratic politicians.

Matthews was elected DSEA president by a razor-thin margin last year.

Before, he was president of the Red Clay Education Association, where he was a vocal critic of Gov. Jack Markell's education reform plans and organized an effort to vote “no confidence” in state leaders in the two districts affected by Priority Schools, a move the statewide union followed.

Contact Adam Duvernay at (302) 319-1855 or aduvernay@delawareonline.com

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