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tonight is the first albemarle county school board meeting since the superintendent’s policy applying the existing dress code to confederate & other racist imagery has been in effe5t7j
he announced he was taking this action at the last meeting after a year of the board declining to directly address it. at least one student had already been sent home from school for refusing to comply after being asked to remove a confederate flag hat.
dailyprogress.com/news/education…
dailyprogress.com/news/education…
🖤 
i understand it takes an incredible amount of privilege to say this, but it says a lot about how the albemarle school board runs their meetings that i feel more physically anxious here than i did at a meeting INSIDE THE JAIL earlier this afternoon.
most of the audience here tonight appears to be elementary school aged children. not sure which agenda item they’ve been trotted out for.
this is cute. it is also going to take a goddamn eternity for all 18 or so of these kids to walk around the dais.
local high school student josh st hill was recognized by the board for an award he’s won. he’ll be giving a presentation at princeton!
josh was recognized last year for this play -
dailyprogress.com/news/local/con…
josh was recognized last year for this play -
dailyprogress.com/news/local/con…
steve “white guy who likes to quote MLK to silence dissenting black voices” koleszar is speaking fondly about a diversity training for school administrators that he sat in on.
better late than never i guess - alcaro says the board will vote at an april meeting on whether or not to ban symbols of white supremacy.
alcaro, re: the february 14th meeting: “i would prefer to not invoke severe disciplinary measures” “unless absolutely necessary” “to maintain decorum”
and with that weird announcement, we transition into public comment. graham paige reads the usual rules.
only three people signed up to speak tonight.
“i’m concerned” “that the board doesn’t fully understand the impact” of confederate imagery on students, matthew (a social worker) says.
he’s making a very good point — the board is constantly talking about how it’s impossible to conduct business when people hold signs or snap their fingers... must it not be equally hard to focus on learning if you’re 10 years old & someone is wearing a symbol of genocide?
“think about how disruptive that would be for you. how unsafe you would feel.” surely they can relate - they once canceled a meeting because people snapping their fingers made them feel unsafe.
next up is one of the organizers from @hatefreeacps. she’s reading a statement from the coalition. they’re appreciative of dr haas’ action at the last meeting.
“exposure to this type of imagery” affects students’ health & ability to learn.
“exposure to this type of imagery” affects students’ health & ability to learn.
@hatefreeacps urges the board to adopt a formal, written resolution banning these symbols. dr haas’ policy could be changed by a future administrator.
the coalition still demands further action and transparency surrounding the MLK day incident in which a teacher racially humiliated a black student.
the third (and final??) speaker also thanks dr haas for stepping up at the last meeting “after the school board refused to.”
“i’m beyond dismayed” at the board members “intentionally harming students.”
“i’m beyond dismayed” at the board members “intentionally harming students.”
“student speech may be prohibited if it interferes with other students’” ability to learn & feel secure, she says, citing the tinker standard.
“i’m not sure why you’re waiting for something to happen.” before taking any action.
she’s citing additional caselaw that allows schools to limit student expression that disrupts the learning environment.
“protect marginalized students. declare ACPS an antiracist school system.”
she’s citing additional caselaw that allows schools to limit student expression that disrupts the learning environment.
“protect marginalized students. declare ACPS an antiracist school system.”
i’ll be honest with you - i was braced for an ugly public comment period. i thought the local racists would be out in force against the new application of the existing dress code. i guess they don’t care enough about their loser flag to keep up with the news?
dave oberg says there is someone in the audience livestreaming the meetings (for @hatefreeacps!) and says there’s no reason they shouldn’t be doing this themselves.
for a second there, when he started with “there is an individual in the audience...” i got very tense! who is he picking a fight with?! but he just wants the school board to stream their meetings. which is a good idea! and not hard to do!
we are ahead of schedule & watching a powerpoigZXz
gZXzthe actual powerpoint is online if you’re into that sort of thing & prefer that to random blurry shots from the audience 🤷no3M
ooof, ACPS has a 90% white teaching staff (and a 65% white student body). dr haas has said within 4 years they should have a teaching staff that is more closely aligned with the diversity of the school system.
fyi ACPS, phone interviews do not ELIMINATE RACIAL BIAS IN HIRING.
that is some extremely wild shit to try to slide into this presentation.
that is some extremely wild shit to try to slide into this presentation.
also you can’t say you are explicitly seeking people of color in hiring and also say you are actively trying not to know the race of the person being interviewed.
i don’t know if the school district’s “strategic communications officer” is sitting directly next to me in this largely empty gigantic auditorium for a reason or what? buddy there are so many empty seats and i chose a seat without someone next to me because i’m w o r k i n g
i am very spoiled because a lot of meetings, NO ONE COMES! and i can have all the seats if i want them. but i extremely hate when someone sits in the seat to my right. it’s like he’s in my office!
“every student deserves to have a teacher that looks like them at some point in their lives,” says board member katrina callsen.
katrina callsen asks if “after charlottesville” they saw a drop in minority applicants (so strange to hear A12 referred to that way when we’re literally half a mile from where the attack occurred - the county office building is technically in the city of charlottesville)
the presenter says yes but that she thinks “the further we get from it” (i assume she means in time), the less of an impact it will have.
not paying attention during this powerpoint sorry
now on to the charter school annual report. we skipped the scheduled break, so we’re back exactly on track per the agenda. we should be out of here in no time!
i stuck around during that presentation in case there was any “other business” at the end but there wasn’t and i’ll never get that last hour of my life back. meeting adjourned.
