To the editor:

The school board’s vote to shift Kyle Hayden from the position of superintendent to chief operating officer further exposes the gap between the principles of equity lauded by board members and the actual decisions they have made this school year.

Given the acknowledged lack of diversity among administrators, staff and teachers in Lawrence public schools, allowing the district’s top executive to handpick a new appointment for himself without a process open to other applicants, underscores the crisis of accountability plaguing USD 497 leadership. On the surface, this would seem to have nothing to do with the racial inequalities prevalent in the school system. In truth, the school board’s sordid move perpetuates the insidious forms of privilege and exclusion that the superintendent and board members claim to oppose. Neither fairness nor equity can exist where opportunity is a rigged game favoring select individuals or groups.

This recent episode teaches a lesson about the school board’s cynicism. When concerned parents and community members disrupted school board meetings last year, outraged board members demanded civility. Yet, when concerned parents and community members adopted a civil approach, appealing to decency and fair play in their comments about Hayden’s position, school board members responded with fraudulent reasoning, liberal double-talk, avoidance and cavalier excuses about doing better “next time.” For those seeking reform, it is clear that collective organization and political effectiveness matter most, not the terms of engagement set by apologists for the status quo.