Classroom racism dominates talk at well-attended school board meeting

Caleb Stephens, an organizer of the Lawrence chapter of Black Lives Matter, addresses the Lawrence school board, including board member Vanessa Sanburn, at left, during an Oct. 24, 2016 meeting at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive. Stephens and other BLM allies spoke out against the district's handling of, among other issues, recent allegations against a South Middle School teacher who had reportedly made racist comments during class.

Compared to City Commission, most Lawrence school board meetings are relatively quiet affairs that occur, usually twice a month, with little public participation.

Monday evening’s installment, however, proved to be anything but a “typical meeting” for the school board, as local Black Lives Matter organizer Caleb Stephens pointed out to an unusually packed meeting room at the Lawrence district offices that night.

“The people that are here right now don’t have time to be here today,” Stephens said. “We’re here because this is important, because we prioritize our children.”

Stephens, along with approximately two-dozen concerned citizens and parents, had attended the meeting to voice their unease — and, in some cases, outrage — over the district’s handling of a South Middle School teacher who last week was accused of making racist comments in class.

The teacher, whom the district has declined to name because of confidentiality reasons, is now suspended (with pay) in accordance with the school board’s policy in order “to ensure a fair and complete investigation” of the matter, a district-issued news release said at the time.

But that answer, which also failed to provide details of the alleged comments, was not enough to satisfy many of the meeting’s attendees, who voiced frustration at what they saw as a lack of transparency around the district’s policies and procedures in such matters.

Several of those who chose to contribute comments that evening also expressed frustration with the school board’s explanations of how its meetings are run. Traditionally, audience members are given approximately three minutes each to share their comments with the board, after which there is usually very little back-and-forth between the speaker and board members.

But on Monday, public comments delayed the school board’s regular business by roughly an hour. Attendees snapped their fingers in approval and voiced opinions from the back and doorway of the meeting room as Trinity Carpenter, another organizer with the Lawrence chapter of Black Lives Matter, spoke about her experience with parents and school administration in the aftermath of the South allegations.

When asked about the timeline of the district’s investigation into the teacher, Superintendent Kyle Hayden said the procedures would “take a little bit of time” but did not offer specifics.

“From a process standpoint, with an investigation, we need to have conversations potentially with students (and) with other staff members that work in the building,” said Hayden, who earlier that evening read aloud a letter expressing his own personal commitment to the district’s equity efforts. “Obviously, as school is in progress, we want to make that as least disruptive as possible to the educational environment, because they are there to receive an education.”

The answer, again, did not seem to satisfy Stephens and his peers, who at times raised their voices and became noticeably emotional in relaying their experiences with what they described as institutionalized racism within the school system.

But the school board members, who met that evening with “Black Lives Matter” cards adorning each of their name placards, did ultimately stand in support of the several concerned parents, at least one of whom said she’d taken time off work to attend the meeting.

Board member Jessica Beeson, among others on the school board, said “it’s just not acceptable that people don’t feel like they have a safe place to go and that we’re not listening.” That, she and other leaders agreed, has to change.

Before the discussion began, school board president Marcel Harmon read a letter that officially expressed the board’s solidarity with Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, LGBTQ groups and women’s rights efforts.

“Our schools are on the front line for creating the change needed to stop the perpetuation of institutionalized racism and other social injustices,” Harmon said. “We ask that staff and the community stand with us, stay engaged and help steady us when we occasionally stumble along the path towards equity.”