WRENTHAM - The King Philip Regional School Committee is demanding state Sen. Scott Brown apologize to students and staff at the high school for his critical comments and swearing before an assembly of students last week.

The near-unanimous vote followed lengthy discussion at Monday's school committee meeting by committee members, their student representative and teachers.

Brown, R-Wrentham, spoke at a gathering Thursday, singling out several students by name who he said wrote critical comments about him and his family on the Web site, facebook.com.

An angry Brown read the comments, some which contained profanities and referred to Brown's anti-gay marriage stance, according to those who attended the assembly.

Brown, who handed out printouts of the comments, later said he was defending his family and making a point that only lasted about two minutes into a talk about the Legislature and other topics. But some students had a different view of the assembly, claiming that Brown's comments caused some of the students to cry.

Brown did apologize to Superintendent Richard Robbat and Principal Elaine Hanson, but school board members wanted more of an apology.

Committee member Pat Francomano initially said he felt that verbal apology was sufficient.

However, committee member Maureen Howard pushed for a letter to be sent to Brown asking for a formal apology. Others agreed.

"We deem his actions inappropriate, and we wouldn't allow anyone to do it," Howard said. "It shouldn't be from an invited guest. It shouldn't be unreasonable to ask" for an apology.

Committee member John Olivieri said he was appalled at the situation. He voted against the measure.

"He is an intelligent person. You expect that he would have behaved a little better," he said.

"Apologize to our students, apologize to school officials. There were 100 students sitting in the auditorium subject to the same thing," committee member Margaret Billian said. "We need to ask him for a public apology to our staff, students and administrators."

Billian said she read comments online and found they were "not nearly as damning as I thought they would be."

Howard praised teachers for how they handled the situation, one who tried to cut Brown off. "I think a lot of students were definitely affected. Some students took it a lot more personally than other students," said Hannah Guild, the student representative to the school board. Of an apology, Guild added she thinks students would appreciate it and have a higher opinion of Brown.

Edie Erickson, a history teacher, and Jan Rumsey, an adjustment counselor, spoke at the onset of the meeting, with Erickson reading a letter addressed to Brown from the teachers association, looking for a public apology to students.

"The circumstances surrounding your appearance at King Philip made it an unwelcome intrusion that served only to disrupt the school day and cause confusion and distress among our students," Erickson said, adding the use of profanity and naming of students "constituted an inexcusable act of public humiliation that violated the norms of acceptable conduct in a place of learning."

School committee members also discussed drafting guidelines to hand to guest speakers in the future.

"We should do everything possible so it doesn't happen again," committee member Caron Ketchum said.

Francomano disagreed, calling it a "single incident where someone made an error in judgement."

School board member Beth Gilbert countered Brown "should be aware of appropriate behavior in this setting."

Howard also wants school administrators to touch base with the students who reportedly posted the comments.