The Shadow
The Alleghany Highlands School Board heard some “heavy comments” regarding “disappointing, disgusting, and disrespectful” house decorations; insensitive comments from Board Members on a “very emotional and tragic day,” and the “horrendous condition” of the tennis court at Clifton Academy at Monday evening’s regular monthly meeting.
Nicole Laws Turner was very emotional when she addressed the Board about the tradition of decorating the houses of a senior sports player. As the mother of a senior, Turner’s house was decorated with “monkey plates”. As she held up a plate, with the face of a monkey, she asked whose idea it was to use monkey plates and tape them to the front of her house. “I was disappointed, disgusted, and disrespected by this year’s decorations,” said Turner as she fought back tears. “Our residence was the only one decorated like this,” added Turner.
She then explained to the Board that there was “a long history of black people being referred to as monkeys. “In my opinion, this is why history needs to be taught in schools no matter how hard it is to accept,” Turner added. “Our prayer is that this will never happen again, and a lesson will be learned for best practices going forward.” As Turner left the podium, she advised that the students should stick to streamers, balloons, and posters rather than monkey plates to decorate the homes of senior sports players.
Board Members apologized to Turner, in her absence, as she left the podium saying that she could stay no longer. Tammy Scruggs-Duncan said there had been some discussions about some diversity training and some cultural awareness.
The “heavy comments” were a lot for Danielle Morgan to take in and a lot to think about. “I have a heavy and saddened heart for all,” said Morgan. “It’s been a tough year, but it’s been a great year,” she added.
“That someone would be heartless enough to do that is not cool,” said Gerald Franson. He doesn’t believe it was done to be disrespectful he believes that “sometimes we do stupid things and don’t think about the consequences, and we need to think more about the consequences and teach our kids about the consequences,” added Franson.
Lorri Saville, Educator, was next to take the podium. She thanked the Board Members for their concern and support on that “very emotional and tragic day (Oct. 16th, when the entire school system went into lockdown)”. However, she thought the comments made by the School Board Office were insensitive. “It was just good practice and luckily today was more of a drill because there were no bad consequences or anything,” said someone from the School Board Office. She said she also heard, “what doesn’t kill us will make us a little stronger,” which she attributed to Jacob Wright, Chairman. “I found this appalling, concerning, and completely unacceptable,” said Saville. “Mr. Wright, it is my opinion that you’re not the correct fit for this position of chairman of the school board. Your comment was unnecessary, unprofessional, and lacking empathy for those involved,” added Saville before her three minutes were up.
Board Members assured Saville that they were kept well informed and had been following the events of that Oct day but had been asked to respect the chain of command.
Wright admitted to using the worst analogy ever in that circumstance and he apologized to Saville. Saville thanked him for the acknowledgment.
The final speaker during Public Comments was Tennis Coach Seth Davis. Davis said he knew the Board had a lot going on but wanted to express to them his concern for the “horrendous condition” of the tennis court at Clifton Academy. “We need new courts that will be a source of pride for our school and community,” said Davis. He admitted that he had apologized to opposing coaches and teams for the condition of the court. Franson assured Davis that the fix for the court is “on our list.” “We all want the program to succeed, and are very much interested in the tennis court,” added Wright before agreeing with Franson that they would “look into it.”
During Board Member Comments, Jonathan Littleton wanted to end on a good note and announced that Sharon Elementary was listed in the top 100 schools and the APHS was in the top 10 in the Special Education Program in the state of Virginia.
During Superintendent Comments, Kim Halterman, Division Superintendent, announced that the AHPS had been awarded a Safety and Security grant from the Virginia Department of Education, to assist in the school’s safety and security efforts.
In other action, the Board held a public hearing on the comprehensive plan for years 2020-2026. Hearing no comments, the Public Hearing was closed, immediately.
They also approved the consent agenda to include the minutes from the Oct. 11th Work Session, the Oct. 16th Regular Meeting, and a Review of the bills; Jackson River Technical Center’s Fire Alarm and Suppression Improvement request for the estimated amount of $34,000; the Comprehensive Plan; and a Resolution on the importance of Internet Connectivity Across the Alleghany Highlands.
In addition, the Board heard several informational items to include a bus fuel mileage reimbursement rate of $3.82. While on the subject of transportation, Eric Tyree, Director of Maintenance and Transportation, reiterated the need for bus drivers. He explained that he is trying to come up with ways to recruit and retain bus drivers and is in a daily juggle to get the kids to and from school. There are currently 6 bus driver vacancies.
