Several members of the Longmont community spoke out against the racist reenactment of the George Floyd murder during the St. Vrain Valley School Board meeting last night.
On May 19, the school district was alerted to a photo that traveled social media that depicted students at Mead High School reenacting the murder of George Floyd. One student was reported as having painted his/her face black while another student pressed his/her knee into the first student’s back.
Superintendent Don Haddad issued a statement condemning the action and stating the district “will be addressing this extremely serious matter immediately and accordingly.”
Trista Gage of Longmont and a member of Showing Up for Racial Justice, or SURJ, said she was happy to see a strong comment from the district but thinks there should be more proactive steps “to prove a commitment to anti-racism in our district.”
“One incident isn’t really the problem, it’s that we need bigger institutional change,” she said.
Gage asked the district to outline a plan with measurable goals, curriculum change and advocacy groups for parents.
Julie Benoit, a Longmont business owner and parent in the district, was leery of moving to Longmont from Detroit due to the lack of diversity. While she stated she feels like she belongs in Longmont, she once again questioned the notion after hearing about the social media post.
Benoit asked the district to be transparent in how they were holding the students accountable for their actions, to “ensure there is an understanding as to why this is unacceptable behavior,” she said.
She also advocated for a safe place for students to have a conversation around racism that involved experts on the topic.
Alisha Graves, chair of the education committee of the Boulder County NAACP, also supported Haddad’s statement to condemn the racist act but stated, in a letter to the school board, that words were not enough to address the history of racism in schools.
Graves was unable to attend last night’s meeting in person and sent a letter that Haddad read on her behalf. The letter was signed by SURJ families, El Comite, ELPASO, YWCA of Boulder County, St. Vrain Valley Safe School Colalition, 100 Black Men of Denver, Inc., Being Better Neighbors and Colorado Immigrant Rights Organization.
In the letter, Graves outlined steps she and other community groups would like to see the district take in this incident and in the future. Those steps include:
- Holding the students in the photo accountable for their actions which includes making a public apology before being allowed to return to school
- Having these students participate in anti-racism training
- Update the code of conduct to clearly define what constitutes a racist act and the consequences for participation in that act
- A review of the culture at Mead High School
- District provided mandated anti-racism training for all school staff yearly and yearly evaluations to discern staff progress
- Written anti-racism standards for all schools and consequences for not meeting the standards
- Establish support groups for families of color
- Create a system for tracking biased-related incidents in our schools
“Allowing racism to persist fails our students, minimizes their learning, harms the wellbeing of students of color for disproportionate harassment, bullying and mistreatment of students of color,” Graves said in the letter.
Haddad responded in the Superintendent’s Report to say the district already has plans to host several townhall meetings with the community in the fall. Teachers are scheduled to undergo equity training this fall, a training that was cancelled last school year due to COVID-19 restrictions. The SVVSD code of conduct is under constant review, he said, however this year it will be under the lens of ensuring it “doesn’t put any student at a disadvantage.”
The district hosts a number of parent advisory groups and Haddad is convening a group so that parents and students can share with him their personal experiences in the school “so we can make sure that all of our children are receiving the support necessary,” Haddad said.
“A lot of these things are underway and they are intensifying and growing broader and deeper,” Haddad said.
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