By Clyde Merriweather
A few weeks ago, The Seattle Medium generously allowed me the opportunity to speak directly to our community about an issue that has been on my mind and heart for some time and that is the removal/dismissal/resignation of African American males from leadership and decision-making positions within the Seattle Public Schools system.
I am herein following up on that letter for I have yet to receive a response from the district in regard to, among other things, why African Americans Dr. Brent Jones, Tim Collins, Dr. Lester Herndon, Michael Tolley, Steve Jones, and Eric McCurdy are no longer employed in the district. We should at this point add another name in Ted Howard II. Under what circumstances, conditions, and rational have they departed? Let me state here however that I see this not singularly as an African American issue. To some extent it appears true for all people of color in the district. However, I will try here to maintain focus in my inquiry. Minority participation in the Seattle School District’s hiring, staffing, management, and planning practices continues to prove suspect at best in terms of our inclusion, and that is of community concern.
If you read press releases and promotional materials from the district, SPS states that it takes pride in being innovative in its approaches to providing a quality education for all of its students. Now in such stated environment, for example, we in the minority community, specifically the African American Community, expected to be and were looking forward to working in collaboration with the School Board in reimagining how schools could reopen safely while meeting the needs of students who would be most impacted by the building closures. Needless to say, we have yet to be invited to participate in the discussions and planning nor do we have any community representation sitting at the decision-making table.
MY POINT HERE – Whereas my previous article concentrated on Superintendent Denise Juneau and the culture she seems to have brought to the table, it should be noted that the School Board is just as responsible for the racial regression we are seeing and experiencing in our public school system. It was the board who selected Juneau to be Superintendent in the first place. It was their job to vet Juneau’s qualifications in regard to this issue. It remains their job to manage the system under its stated mandate for racial inclusion. So why has the board allowed this trend to happen and what, if anything, is it going to do about it?
For 50 years, our community has fought for equality in education and for advancement opportunities for African Americans to work in decision-making capacities at all levels of the district. We have also sought for schools with predominately minority populations to have the same academic outcomes as school that are predominately White.
Prior to the arrival of SPS Superintendent Denise Juneau, the one area where it appeared we had made meaningful progress was in the area of employment and subsequent opportunities for advancement for African American male staffers at the administrative level. However, in just two years, under the leadership of Juneau, Seattle Public Schools has regressed to such a degree that some might argue that the desired culture in the district for African Americans, and subsequently the African American community, has changed course. It’s progress has been shameful at best in this regard.
The district’s actions, rather than their words, speak volumes as to their respect for our community and African American males in particular. One has to wonder why the district has not even seen fit to hire an African American male in a senior leadership position for a department that was specifically created to serve African American males? However to be clear, this is not exclusively a Black male concern. I could be asking if the district values the contributions of Black women when they remove a popular African American female principal from her position during a time when all school buildings in the district are shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic? What was the rational for that? Her students and their parents were quite supportive of her efforts.
Again, I/we cannot place all the blame on the desk of the Superintendent. The truth of the matter is the school board is also to blame and needs to be held accountable. The board’s silence on this issue, what we clearly see as a pattern of dismantling the representation of African Americans in positions of leadership in the Seattle Public School System, demands an answer.
TO THE BOARD – Silence is not an option here! This problem has disproportionately impacting the few persons of color who finally had made it into the top positions within the halls of SPS power and leadership. This practice of firing/demoting/removing/leveraging or forcing Black men to either leave, take lower positions, or work in uncomfortable conditions must stop now. We demand, as much as we can, that you cease and desist from using these disparate actions and tactics and that you make right the wrongs you have inflicted on the system over the past two years.
If change is not forthcoming soon, it is time to change the Board and the top leadership within the Seattle Public Schools. We are not blind to your behavior.
We are putting the school board on notice. We will no longer sit back and quietly allow incident after incident. We watched when you let the first African American go without due process, then another, then another, then another – the pattern is clear. It is of grave concern that the Seattle Public School Board has stood guard over this horrendous pattern.
Students of color were starting to see persons of color in positions of authority and leadership. Children will aspire to become what they see and experience as possible. Where are those role models now? The unspoken but subtle display of the school system’s discrimination, if not racism, is real and tangible, and it is evident from our community’s perspective.
As taxpayers, we will no longer sit and watch the systematic oppression and violations of qualified persons. We are being disenfranchised, separated from the opportunity to make a difference in educating our children, to prepare them to compete in the 21st century. The current Board does not represent us when they sit there in their positions to say nothing about the pattern of behavior that is evident.
The school board may seek to hide behind Superintendent Juneau and believe that these actions will only be associated with her legacy. However, that is not likely to happen. Our community will make it clear that the current members of the school board — Liza Rankin, Lisa Rivera-Smith, Chandra N. Hampson, Eden Mack, Zachary DeWolf, Brandon K. Hersey and especially Leslie Harris, because she has been serving since 2016 and is the longest tenured school board member -– are highlighted in the history books as supporters of the racial regression in Seattle Public Schools during Denise Juneau’s tenure.
So, it’s time for a change. We will seek to have persons selected to replace you in the next Board election. We seek to have the district’s policies and practices reviewed. Let it be known that the concerns I am addressing for African American males is not limited to positions of decision makers at the highest levels. I’ve had discussions with some past and current SPS staff ranging from school principals to maintenance engineers, those who keep the buildings safe, organized, clean, and functional. They too have registered similar difficulties in inclusion and advancement.
These issues will hopefully be addressed in another public forum.
