By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Last week during a press conference, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau spoke publicly for the first time about the NAACP’s call for the school board to terminate her contract.
Members of Seattle’s Black community are making the claim that the Superintendent has made race and allegations of racism more prevalent through her policies in regards to Black leadership within the district.
Two weeks ago, NAACP youth council members and its leadership along with several teachers publicly voiced their concerns about this issue. One of the claims vocalized by the group is that there has been “a purge of all the Black male leaders in the Seattle Public School District” during Juneau’s three-year tenure.
Community activist Clyde Merriwether couldn’t believe the responses given by the superintendent during the press conference and associated her response to Juneau presenting her resume in an effort to retain her position.
“I fully expected to hear a response from Seattle School District’s Superintendent Juneau in regard to the NAACP’s press conference concerning the system’s disregard for African American placement, Black men specifically,” says Merriwether. “What I got was something quite different. It sounded more like a resume presented for retaining Superintendent Juneau’s pending contract.”
In response to the NAACP’s accusations Juneau stated she was a bit surprised at what the organization was implying.
“I was actually really surprised when I read their press release and heard their press conference,” says Juneau.
As it relates to the allegations of purging Black Male leaders in the district, Juneau said some of the men advanced their careers by taking positions outside the district.
“Several of those men on the list went on to bigger and better roles in other districts and organizations,” said Juneau. “There were a couple that were asked to leave for performance issues.”
Gerald Hankerson, president of the NAACP State Conference Alaska, Oregon and Washington, says that Juneau is trying to paint a much different picture than reality.
“The issue before her is why did she purge all those Black male leaders?” says Hankerson. “The case is they went on to bigger and better. No, what they did was they had to jump ship to go to a place where they could feel safe, without the fear of retaliation or her bureaucracy tactics.”
Merriwether also questioned the statement made by the superintendent.
“If in fact these men were competent and qualified enough to get better position elsewhere, why wasn’t there opportunity for growth within the district?” asked Merriwether. “What was the reason for their displacement? I’ve heard what some of them have had to say in this regard. It doesn’t seem to match what Juneau is saying. To be sure, I have yet to hear any of them say it was because they were made aware of a better opportunity elsewhere.”
When pressed about why some of these men were let go, Juneau said, “it was a matter of reorganizing the structure of the system.” She also stated, “that the men impacted by the reorganization retained their duties and responsibilities, just under different titles.”
However, when questioned about if those changes came with salary reductions by Chris Bennett of the Seattle Medium, Juneau implied, that “she didn’t know and that she would be willing to discuss that at a later date.”
In defense of her position, Juneau also stated that in 2020 fifty-four percent of the Seattle Public School’s leaders hired identified as being people of color, whereas, in 2018-19 that number was thirty-five percent. She went on to say, “that more Black principals and minorities in meaningful positions have been hired under her administration than her predecessor.”
During the conference several media outlet looked to press the superintendent on this issue to get more clarification, including Juneau’s plans to include more Black leaders in the future?
“We are making every effort to be super intentional,” said Juneau. “Intentional on increasing diversity in our leadership roles including African Americans and Black men.”
Juneau proclaims that progress has been made in this regard yet evidence seems to beg to differ.
Juneau implies that many of the new hires were hired at the supervisory and managerial levels but according to Merriwether. “there are no specifics to confirm this and even if true, none of them were hired at the levels of those displaced under her leadership.”.
For many advocates in the community, Black leadership within education is a must if the success of Black youth is the priority, as they believe that Black students have greater success when they see and experience someone who look like them.
The Superintendent’s contract expires in July of 2021. The Seattle Public Schools Board is set to vote on a new contract for Juneau in December.
