N.Y. school board president resigns after calling parent 'chubby wubby'

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A school board president in a small upstate New York town has resigned after a video of him calling a parent "chubby wubby" at a meeting surfaced online, school officials said on Wednesday. The Mahopac School District disclosed the resignation of former Board of Education President Raymond Cote in a statement on its website on Wednesday. Cote has withdrawn his candidacy from upcoming school board elections later this month, it added. "I would like to apologize for my choice of words after the close of the Board meeting on April 8, 2014, which are regretful," Cote said in a statement on Tuesday. "My words were inappropriate and do not reflect my feelings or attitudes." The video shows Cote saying into a live microphone, "This one here, chubby wubby, she gets fatter and fatter at every meeting. She really does." Earlier this year, Cote was involved in a diversity and sensitivity initiative launched in response to a racial controversy following a tense Mahopac High School playoff basketball game. Mahopac sits about 50 miles north of New York City. Cote is an attorney who graduated from the Pace University School of Law and is a special education parent and advocate, according to the school district's website. He was publicly elected to serve as the board president in May 2011 for a three-year term. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Scott Malone and Richard Chang)