Racist graffiti was found etched into a stall in one of the boys’ bathrooms at Mathews High School last week, with the Mathews NAACP taking school administration to task for what the group viewed as a slow response to the situation.
NAACP chapter president Edith Turner said she was alerted to the situation last Wednesday, Jan. 10, when she received a photo of the racially motivated vandalism. “It was a threat against African-Americans that read ‘kill n…..s’,” Turner said.
Turner immediately brought this to the attention of MHS principal Dr. Andrew Greve, who, Turner said, did not know about the graffiti. She also notified the superintendent of Mathews County Public Schools Dr. David Daniel, and Mathews County Sheriff April Edwards, neither of whom had been made aware of the incident. “By this time, the offending words had been covered over by high school personnel,” Turner said.
According to Turner, when asked who was responsible for the incident, Greve told Turner that the surveillance camera down the hall from the bathroom was out of order and that school officials had not yet identified the perpetrator.
Daniel attended the Mathews NAACP’s monthly meeting on Monday—he had been invited prior to the incident—and fielded questions from NAACP members. He reported that the perpetrator still had not been identified and that parents and students still had not been informed about the racist threat. Late Tuesday morning, Daniel did notify the community through email communications and a social media post.
At Tuesday night’s school board meeting in the Brooks Auditorium at Thomas Hunter Middle School, Daniel opened the meeting by reading that statement to the public, a condemnation of the vandalism, as well as steps being taken to ensure students’ safety and a joint investigation with law enforcement.
“Mathews County Public Schools condemns this action in the strongest possible way and it in no way represents the students of Mathews High School nor will it come to define who we are as a school community,” Daniel said. “This unspeakable act has fractured the safety of our students and will not be tolerated. We will be working with our student leadership, faculty and staff, and community organizations to push back against racism.
“The safety of our students remains our top priority,” he continued. “Counselor services are available to any student in our division who may feel unsafe or have concerns stemming from this heinous act in our school.
“A joint investigation with the Mathews Sheriff’s Office remains ongoing and we are seeking assistance in resolving this crime. If you have information regarding this act, please reach out to the Mathews Sheriff’s Office or the administration at MHS. If you are uncomfortable or concerned about having your identity known, you can report information anonymously by going to our website (www.mathews.k12.va.us).” Daniel asked those responding anonymously to be as detailed as possible, since they will not be able to ask follow-up questions.
Also on Tuesday, the Mathews County Sheriff’s Office announced that it is offering a financial reward to any party that will lead to a successful prosecution of this crime, asking the public to reach out to Sgt. Julianna Berry at 804-725-7177 or call Crime Solvers at 804-725-7001.
The NAACP called for students, staff and the community to be informed “that a threat has been made against African American members of the community, and that this is grievous offense that will be investigated with appropriate punishment to follow,” Turner said.
“We are deeply concerned both that this incident occurred and that the school system’s response has been woefully inadequate,” Turner said in a statement that had been released shortly before Daniel’s statement went public. “We want assurances that corrective action is imminent.”
Turner said she wanted the division to view this as a teaching opportunity “for all the students, staff, and families on what racism is, how racism affects people of color, and what their responsibility is to address racism when it is present in their schools, workplaces, and communities.” Additionally, she asked the school division to engage professional consultants with expertise in devising a community response to acts of racism.
Turner also made clear during Tuesday night’s meeting that while some private citizens may have called for the resignation of Daniel over this matter, the NAACP has not.
Former county supervisor and school board member the Rev. Dr. Melissa Mason also took to the podium Tuesday night to express her concerns about the incident.
“Ignorance in action and words are prevalent in today’s society even in a small, quaint and quiet place such as Mathews County,” she said. “As an African American woman, previous elected leader of my county, and servant of God, I am appalled at the action of someone at our local high school. We must do better. Such words, attitudes and actions cannot be tolerated or accepted.
“We must set the tone and the only way to do is to educate, put language out there that states boldly and held to high regard of what will not be accepted. Everyone should feel safe in the school system but this indicates that physical and mental safety is [at] risk. Leadership cannot stick their heads in the sand and act as though they are oblivious. This occurred last week and an immediate gathering should have taken place. There needs to be a no tolerance for such behavior. In addition, instruction at the highest level needs to take place on racial bias, inequity, and how to handle these circumstances. Leadership needs to understand their own biases and how to handle the process of dismantling racism.”
Mason asked the division to engage outside help to deal with the recurring problem of racism, saying that similar incidents have occurred in the past at other schools. “This is not a ‘you’ issue. This is not a ‘me’ issue. This is a community issue,” Mason said.
Dee Russell of Hudgins, also spoke during the public comment period. “We are told words matter,” she said. “They were not just words … they were a threat.” Children are told, she said, when you see something, say something. “In this case, a child saw it,” and the child reported it. But no one in administration saw this as a threat, did not notify parents, the community, police. “It was treated just as graffiti to clean up,” she said. “It was not just graffiti; it was a threat.” There should have been an immediate, loud, clear response, Russell said.
Also during public comment, Pamela White of North, who has a grandchild attending kindergarten at Mathews Elementary, expressed concern that the child’s teacher seemed to be “distant” to people of color. Her husband went as a chaperone on a school trip, she said, and the teacher would not talk with him. “I’m trying not to put it as a black and white thing,” she said. She suggested that board members go into the classrooms to make sure the children are doing okay.
Following public comment, Daniel thanked those who shared their concerns with him over the incident, and conceded that the division did not act as swiftly as it could have. “We learn from our mistakes. We do better moving forward,” he said.
All of the school board members echoed Daniel’s outrage over the incident, condemning the heinous act, and expressing confidence that the superintendent and administration, along with law enforcement, will successfully resolve this situation. “I would love for all of us to work together,” said Dr. Mari Gibbs, who was elected chairman at the start of the meeting. “We are better than this.”
Gibbs was unanimously elected chair, with Linda Hodges unanimously elected to the position of vice chair, at the start of the meeting.
2 percent raise
In other matters, the board unanimously approved a request to county supervisors to re-appropriate just under $400,000 from the division’s FY 2023 budget to FY24 to provide a 2 percent additional salary increase and to offset an expected reduction in state funding.
The division had initially intended to provide a 5 percent salary increase to all employees in the 2023 budget that was approved by the county board, but that had been reduced to 2.5 percent.
During public comment, supervisor Mike Walls thanked the board for going ahead with giving the agreed-upon funds for a salary boost. “Our teachers deserve everything we can give them,” he said.
FY25 budget
In a special budget work session prior to Tuesday’s regular meeting, Daniel reviewed the draft FY 2025 budget, a budget based on an enrollment of 800 students. In the draft the superintendent presented, which included a 5 percent salary increase, projected local funding for operations is slightly over $9.5 million.
Hodges, who was driving to the meeting after attending a conference and not physically present during the 4 p.m. special budget meeting, attended virtually and asked by phone that the board at least consider as a starting point a 7 percent raise for teachers and other employees.
“They have gone for so long without regular increases,” she said. “I feel we have to make up some of that ground for them,” especially as it impacts their VRS retirements. “I don’t want to start at a lower number,” Hodges said, suggesting that the board could always settle on a lower number.
Other board members agreed and the budget with a 7 percent raise will be considered when a public hearing on the budget is held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at THMS. A budget work session will follow, with a joint work session with county supervisors to be held on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m., also at the middle school’s Brooks Auditorium.
Personnel
Following a closed session at the end of Tuesday’s regular meeting, the board approved a number of personnel matters. The board accepted the resignation of Mathews Elementary music teacher Scott Eno, and retirements of THMS teacher Crystal Coleman and MES teacher Darlene Ingram, bus driver Richard Brooks and MHS registrar Lori Mountford, as well as the resignation for the 2024-2025 school year of THMS teacher Carter Vrooman. Amy Inabinet and Nina Dease were appointed teacher assistants at MES. Spring coaching appointments were approved for Wes Griffith (varsity baseball), Zack Jarosz (JV baseball), J.J. Ashberry (varsity softball), Melina Hester (JV softball), Jon Hatch (tennis), Charles Forrest (track) and Jon Lothian (crew).