CLAWSON, Mich. – A Michigan school board member has resigned over joking comments she made at a recent board meeting about shooting students with food allergies, and a video of the incident that went viral is enraging parents and advocates.

At a Nov. 10 Clawson School Board meeting about how the new federal snack rules are implemented in local schools, principals discussed the issue of students with food allergies and how they’re coping with the federal mandates, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“We have at least 20 kids with allergies at this point, at least one in every class,” one of the principals said.

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“Well you should just shoot them,” board member Linda Grossman replied, throwing up her hands to indicate it was a joke.

Several board members and those in the audience laughed at the remark.

The public backlash was fierce, with many parents and allergy advocates speaking out against the inappropriate comment.

“I know she was joking, but it was a very poor joke,” said Mark Drinkard, a grandfather of five, including one with a peanut allergy.

“If you had a life-threatening allergy, would you think it was so funny if someone made fun of you?” he asked the Free Press. “Just the whole crassness of the thing is what gets me.”

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A video of the exchange was posted on the Facebook page Honesty for Clawson Schools several days after the meeting and has since gone viral with thousands of views. The video was accompanied by the post “I waited 12 days after the meeting to post the video. Hoping they would release an apology on their own, without having to be called out over the comments,” the Daily Tribune reports.

Heather Maurer, whose fourth-grade son at Schalm Elementary has a nut allergy, told the Free Press she came across the video and watched with her son, who wasn’t at all amused.

“He comprehended it immediately and got very upset,” she said. “He wrote a letter/picture about it because he was so mad about it.”

Her son is in good company. James Baker, CEO of the national Food Allergy Research & Education group, issued a statement describing the comments as “egregious and unacceptable,” the Free Press reports.

“Food allergies are a serious illness and suggesting that these children should be shot, even in jest, is outrageous and unacceptable from a public official,” he said.

Matthew Greenhawt of the University of Michigan’s Food Allergy Center said essentially the same thing, adding that a lot of people don’t fully understand that food allergies impact nearly 8 percent of school kids in the U.S., according to the Tribune.

“It’s a condition that has no treatment or cure,” he said. “And there are a lot of unknown properties in terms of how much food someone needs to consume to trigger a bad reaction. It’s quite terrifying for some families. These are children, they’re very vulnerable. They didn’t ask to have this condition.

“While it may not affect your child, your child is certainly going to know someone they go to school with that it might affect. It’s really a shared responsibility in the community.”

The video posted to Facebook garnered hundreds of comments, nearly all expressing outrage.

““Shame on all of you. Can you imagine people laughing if this remark had been made about a disabled person? Severe allergies are a disability,” Elizabeth Krag posted. “A joke about shooting disabled children and these school board ‘professionals’ laugh. I want sensitivity training, food allergy training and ADA training for the rest of them and the lady that made the joke needs to be FIRED IMMEDIATELY!”

“She needs to go to jail!” Amanda Coelho wrote.

District superintendent Monique Beels issued a statement this week notifying the public that Grossmann is no longer on the school board.

“This comment referred to individuals with food allergies and was a sad attempt at humor. As a result Mrs. Linda Grossmann has resigned from the Clawson Board of Education, effectively immediately,” Beels said in a news release, according to the Tribune. “The remarks by this board member in no way reflect the opinion of the Clawson School District or the Board of Education.”