At a February 10th meeting, the school board of this Seattle suburb defended tailoring invitations to a recent meeting by skin color. Board president Anne Moore defended the decision from critics, saying that for “people of color,” being “surrounded by other people similar to them, makes it easier.”
UNREAL. @IssaquahSchools held segregated meetings by color to be “inclusive.” Here a board member defends it after parents spoke out against it. You can’t make this up pic.twitter.com/aJOJga7bZi
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) February 26, 2022
Lesha Engels, a spokesperson for the board, had claimed that invitations do not qualify as examples of racial segregation, saying “All parents are welcome to attend any of the 4 parent meetings, they are not segregated,” even though the invitations in a district bulletin are clearly tailored “for Parents/Guardians of Color”.
Excerpt from an Issaquah bulletin dated February 7th
Several parents who commented at the board meeting expressed their disapproval.
“By holding a separate meeting for people of color, it is the same as saying people of color are not welcome to attend the other meetings,” a former board candidate testified at the public comment portion of the meeting. “So we have created a separate one just for them. We are an integrated community, all wanting the same thing — to hire the person best qualified for the job as superintendent. The one who will care about raising up all of our students. Why are you trying to divide and separate us by color? Really? Is this the example you want to set for our students? Shame on all of you.”
Authored by Paul Rossi via Legal Insurrection
ThinkCivics researches, examines, and reports on issues that matter most. We deliver explanative, fearless, and insightful analysis for public consumption.
