The USD 383 Manhattan/Ogden School Board members commented on the recent killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police officers during their meeting Wednesday.
Board President Karla Hagemeister read from a prepared statement that addressed the two victims and the current protests going on throughout the world. She started off saying their deaths brings new pain in a country that has yet to live up to its ideals.
“As a board, we condemn these killings and we acknowledge the anguish felt across the country is present in our community as well. Black Lives Matter, says Hagemiester. “As school district, it’s our mission to prepare every student for a successful future, but too often racism, both individual and systemic, stands in the way.”
Hagemeister brought up the district’s strategic plan to build foundations for dynamic futures. The mission includes a set of core beliefs that include acceptance, accountability, courage, joy, and trust. She says these beliefs resonate deeply during this time.
“Every person, regardless of race or any other identity, deserves nothing less from us. Today that means knowing that although these our beliefs, we cannot say we are there yet,” says Hagemeister. “It is on us to listen to you; our students, families, staff, faculty and our community and be willing to live out these values.”
Hagemeister says they are willing and ready to have difficult conversations, view their system through the eyes of students, and committed to making changes.
From there, board gave consensus to re-evaluate student dress code policies in terms of hair, hats, and hoodies. Hagemeister says she would like to see those policies go away to avoid profiling minority students. She would like the policies to be reviewed and a decision made by administrative staff by the start of the new school year. However, this wouldn’t affect their policies on obscene or inappropriate wording or images on those articles of clothing.
The Committee for Diversity and Inclusion has heard from black students, especially female students, who want to wear their natural hair styles. These styles include garments that are not allowed in current policies
Board Member Jurdene Coleman says while on the CDI, this topic was brought up by students very early on.
“The administration is very white and so I think there is an amount of questions they might have, just needing direction and I would encourage them to look outside their circle for those answers,” says Coleman. “I don’t think anyone expects them to be able to, at this time, be culturally competent at this time.”
According to Hagemeister, the enforcement varies from to school to school, creating an uneven application of policy and can be harmful to students since they lose a sense of their identity. She adds these policies create a sense of conflict between the students and staff, leading to disciplinary action.
“When you stop and think about it; is it really worth it over a hat? Over a hoodie?” says Hagemeister.
Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid says this subject is something he and Superintendent Dr Marvin Wade have already started to talk about. According to Wade, current policies deal more with obscene imagery or language on clothing, but doesn’t have anything on hats or head wraps. Because of this, Wade says this won’t be a difficult conversation to have.
Also during the meeting, the board approved a public hearing during their special meeting on Jun 17. The public hearing is to republish the 2020 budget due to an increase in Special Education Categorical Aide. This increase has surpassed the district’s legal maximum General Fund budget authority for the current fiscal year. This is due to a decrease in transportation costs because of the pandemic.
The categorical aide amount for the current fiscal year increased by $210. This resulted in an increase of $133,000 dollars in categorical aide for the district.
The public hearing would open the meeting at 5:30 p.m.
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