Rev-elution Election Endorsements: Durham County Board of Education

Note: Rev-elution has removed comments regarding Matt Sears, incumbent representing District 3, after reviewing records which fail to verify assumptions made in the previous version. Sears never publicly called for the termination of former Durham County Manager Wendell Davis and made no public comments supporting David Hawk, former principal at Durham School of the Arts.

no elected public official faces more scrutiny than public-school board members. It’s where the public ideologies of parents emerge in a volatile display of emotions. It’s where race, class privilege and petty demands of parents converge to pit the rich against the lack of resources of others.

Rev-elution applied a different type of matrix in determining who to endorse for the five seats on the board of education. We considered each candidates’ campaign pitch. We also counted the level and nature of involvement with Black and Brown parents and students. Not just Black, and not just Brown.

 

Impact of the Better Board, Better Schools slate of candidates

The surfacing of Better Board, Better Schools, a group of concerned parents and grandparents, in promoting a slate of candidates is significant. It’s not clear if the group is motivated by political party ties. What is clear is a budding population of parents unsatisfied with student academic performance in Durham Public Schools.

“Resources are being allocated to various initiatives while our students are being left behind academically,” the group states on their website. “Our children deserve better.”

Chris Burns, the group’s candidate representing District 2, touts homeschooling, The Hill Center and Cresset Christian Academy, a private faith-based school, as options used for his children.

Rev-elution extends no endorsements for members of the Better Board, Better Schools slate; however, acknowledges the burden felt by parents who feel DPS fails in satisfying the educational needs of their children.

“Our slate will bring a laser-like focus on increasing reading literacy, mathematical achievement, and critical thinking skills,” their websites states. “We want to unleash the creativity of teaching professionals, allowing them to impact in ways that are effective and impactful.”

Curtis Hrischuk (District 1), Gayathri Rajaraman (District 3), Joetta MacMiller (Consolidated District B) and Valarie Jarvis (District 4) are a slate of candidates representing parents likely to consider alternative methods to educate their children. School board members are encouraged to listen. 

 

District 1

Rev-elution endorses Emily Chavez based on her more than 15 years of experience as a professional development facilitator, education administrator and organizational change agent.

A former English teacher, her work as project director of the DREAM Project at the University of North Carolina, director of equity and justice, associate director at the Center for Multicultural Affairs both at Duke and outreach program coordinator of the UNC-Duke Consortium of Latin American & Caribbean Studies, offers the perfect fit in a school system with an expanding Brown population.

Jasper Fleming presents a platform centering teacher pay, parent engagement and Covid-19 safety protocol. Rev-elution viewed his platform, and lack of experience within Black and Brown spaces, both limited and nonconsequential in addressing critical issues.

 

District 2

District 2 presents a decision between two viable candidates. Bertina Umstead serves as the current chair of the Durham Board of Education. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she studied Middle Grade Education with a concentration in Language Arts & Social Studies before taking a job with Student U, a college access program in Durham.

Umstead, and members of the current board, advocates for additional school counselors, increased access to mental health support and programming that supports Black and Brown boys.

Rev-elution endorses Donald Hughes based on a set of unusual and welcoming variables. Hughes is nurtured within a culture of advocacy and activism. He began service as a speaker at city council and school board meetings before entering high school. Hughes knows Durham. He’s a graduate of Hillside High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s degree in public administration from North Carolina Central University.

Hughes is a rarity in Durham politics, a Durham born and raised Black man potentially being elected for local office. He’s a strong advocate of Durham pride. He has witnessed, firsthand, the rise and fall of what Durham represented prior to gentrification. He remembers the madness related to school merger, disputes to fund magnet schools and conflicts at Hillside High School leading to the dismissal of a vastly popular principal.

Hughes is part of the history of Durham’s public education system. He’s connected to the population most impacted by economic, education and health disparities. Hughes can do more than talk about what troubles Durham, he’s engaged. He does more than talk about policy in a platform statement. He’s about that life.

 

District 3

This is complicated. Matt Sears, the incumbent in District 3, hasn’t done enough to warrant an endorsement from Rev-elution.

Gayathri Rajaraman, the only opposition in District 3, is an unknown. Her connection as a member of the Better Board, Better School slate offers a clue. The problem is with the clue. It feels like a hostile Republican Party takeover of a welcoming and progressive school system.

Rev-elution endorses no one for District 3.

 

District 4

Natalie Beyer played tag team with Matt Sears in a campaign against Wendell Davis. She challenged the credibility of positions affirming the strength of Durham’s AAA rating. The call for accountability was matched by her call for Davis’ job. Fueled by the support of People’s Alliance, Beyers and Sears won the battle. Will Durham voters remember rhetoric condemning Davis for being conservative – yes, some called him a Republican – while addressing his compensation – too much for a Black man. Stop me. It's too soon.

Rev-elution endorses Myca Jeter based on her more than 20 years of working with children and families as a social worker. A graduate of North Carolina Central University, Jeter taught Spanish at Neal Middle School and Hillside High School before becoming a mental health professional.

An authentic and much needed breath of fresh air.

 

Consolidate District B

Few in Durham manifest the anti-Wendell Davis agenda more than Millicent Rogers.

“With an annual salary of more than $200,00, the contract provides the manager with numerous perks, including seven weeks of vacation a year, term life insurance, and a hefty monthly vehicle allowance,” a statement released by People’s Alliance Board of Directors on March 18, 2021, states. Rogers served as co-president of the group.

The ache of feeling Black men don’t deserve to be paid still resonates. The sidenote involves the contract for the newly appointed county manager. It’s more than Davis’ contract prior when he was booted out of his position. Rogers and members of People’s Alliance avoided conversations related to her compensation package.

Rogers’ involvement as a key organizer in efforts to not approve the renewal of Davis’ contract is critical among residents desiring more than a blank check to fund public education. Rogers, and members of the People’s Alliance Board of Directors, set a political philosophy questioning the credibility of conservative fiscal management. What pressures will Rogers, Beyer and Sears place on Kimberly Sowell, the newly appointed Durham County Manager.

Rev-elution endorses Frederick Xavier Ravin III. Ravin was appointed by school board members on Aug 27, 2020, to fill the vacancy after the resignation of Xavier Carson. A graduate of Southern Durham High School, he earned a degree in marketing from North Carolina A&T State University, a degree in finance from North Carolina Central University and a master’s degree in strategic information management and MBA from North Carolina Central University.

He's smart, likeable and a meticulous critical thinker. He offers vision and an unwillingness to be bound by the selfish whims of any given political action committee.

 

 

Durham School of the Arts is a lesson in the politics of anti-blackness

commentary - I was reminded of a place I’d been before. The thought of what could have been came to mind. The thought of we shouldn’t be here overwhelmed the moment.

 

We waited for David Hawks to appear. I sat between two angry parents – the mother and father of an honor student. Their son was suspended by Hawks, principal at the prestigious Durham School of the Arts, for doing the forbidden. He was accused of sexting a white girl.

 

The evidence was a lewd picture confiscated by the white mother. The back-and-forth sexting by the white girl and the black teenager was enough to force mama to call the warden. Hawks obliged the demand to protect the virtue and privilege of the white girl who prompted the sex play.

 

There was no conversation with the Black parents prior to the decision. There was no interest in protecting the honor of a Black honor student or conversation involving how this form of discipline followed a trend of disparate treatment.

 

Prior to our visit to the warden’s office, I posted a statement on Facebook. It didn’t take long for school board member Matt Sears to respond to my statement. I felt his protection of Hawks and the pride of his model school. I was struck by Sears public relations pitch.

 

What I felt reminded me of the delicate line Black boys walk in their pursuit of public education. Hawks didn’t see a student with vast potential. He saw a Black boy preying on innocent white girls. He saw a Black boy interfering with his end of year numbers. He didn’t see the glow of Black excellence. He saw another Black man who needed to be punished for speaking to a white woman.

 

The tension in the room reflected years of stereotype breaking. There was a father who knew the pain of invalidation. There was a mother enduring the challenge of loving and building self-esteem in a son slighted because of the color of his skin. There was me, a pastor and friend, present to deconstruct a decision rooted in deeply racist assumptions and practices.

 

There was enough firepower in that room to get Hawks’ attention. He admitted a mistake was made in not contacting parents prior to suspending another Black student. We talked about the psychological damage caused by the hectoring of students. We discussed the insensitivity in trusting and responding to the demands of the white mother without honoring the concerns of Black parents.

 

This is a step toward stagnating Black self-esteem. This is part of a play book in deflating the confidence of Black boys taught their fate is a life of ordeals with law enforcement. It all felt familiar. I was reminded of institutionalized weapons against Black achievement. Hawks’ job was to protect white academic achievement. I felt decades of confrontations aimed at diminishing my dreams.

 

The worst part is the Black student I advocated for on that day is not the only one. There are hundreds of parents who bear witness to the same type of treatment. The numbers prove a startling bias in the treatment of Black and Brown students at Durham School of the Arts. Rather than contend with the hostile treatment, many Black parents have chosen alternative places for their children to attend.

 

The damage is intensified by the unwillingness of school board members to address concerns of Black parents and students. It’s troubling when school performance matters more than the treatment of all students. It’s troubling that, after years of complaints, it took so long for the school board to put an end to Hawks’ reign of terror. It matters when the superintendent is forced to bend under the pressure of white parents and teachers. It matters when the cries of Black and Brown parents are dismissed because white parents crave the academic excellence of their own children more than equal treatment of all students.

 

The outcry after the termination of Hawks is a microcosm of responses related to when white men get fired. It’s a reminder of white privilege. It exposes layers of biases involving assumptions of the status quo. Durham School of the Arts is the white oasis of Durham public education. Its where white parents send their children to avoid the perceived problems in other schools. It’s where you go to avoid being in a vastly Black and Brown environment. White parents can feel good about public education at Durham School of the Arts because it’s managed to avoid the Black and Brown problem of public education.

 

Hawks managed the mystique of the school’s success. He upheld the purity of white supremacy with a strategy of anti-blackness. He viciously eradicated all semblance of blackness without recognizing the failures of his implicit bias. Hawks isn’t alone in his failings. His actions were reinforced by both Black and white people who lean in heavy toward teaching and affirming principles aimed at inspiring the characteristics of whiteness.

 

The failures of Durham School of the Arts transcend the mistakes of one person. This is an example of institutionalized whiteness working to moderate the influence of blackness. Understanding what happened at Durham School of the Arts is best understood within the context of the Durham Public Schools system. It requires a deep analysis of the history of school merger, the why and how Durham School of the Arts was created to cuddle white parents and the ongoing bickering to maintain its reputation as the darling of Durham’s public schools.

 

Durham School of the Arts is an example of what white progressive centered discrimination creates. It looks like progress, but it is managed by the assumptions of white supremacy. To succeed, it demands the expulsion of blackness. It does this work casually, and often doesn’t recognize the cruelty of its actions. It doesn’t know it’s racism because the protection of whiteness is embedded in perceptions regarding success. Being further removed from blackness is the fundamental goal of the people building the curriculum for that understanding of success.

 

I welcomed Hawks with a handshake. I could feel it. His desire to maintain whiteness made it difficult for him to respect my black hand.

  

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