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SAN DIEGO — A school board president who sent an e-mail suggesting two colleagues be shot for prolonging meetings with debate stepped down from the presidency but rejected demands that she resign from the board. 

Sue Braun announced her decision as she made a public apology Tuesday at a meeting of the San Diego Unified School District. Braun said she was stepping down as president “in the best interests of the district and the students we serve.” 

Her decision did not satisfy the two members who she said should be shot after a contentious board meeting that lasted nearly eight hours. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, which lasted five hours, the two sought to have the board adopt a resolution calling on her to resign but it failed on a 2-2 vote, with Braun abstaining. “Mrs. Braun’s apology is accepted. Her excuses are not,” board member Frances O’Neill Zimmerman said.  

In her e-mail sent last month, Braun expressed frustration about Zimmerman and fellow board member John de Beck. The note, sent to several district officials but not the two board members, asked for suggestions for avoiding delays at future meetings. 

“The only other idea I have is to shoot the both of them,” Braun wrote, according to a copy of the e-mail provided by the district. 

“I was thinking of a way to get them both with one bullet, but now think they are each too heavy for that to work.” 

Criticism of the message comes amid heightened concern about school violence following two shootings at San Diego-area campuses this year.