SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — In a split vote, the Suffolk School Board voted Thursday in favor of suspending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the school division.
The 4-3 vote to suspend its DEI policy came as a court ruling put a temporary halt to the Trump administration’s efforts to end DEI in K-12 public schools in the United States.
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Board chairwoman Heather Howell, vice chairman Sean McGee, and board members Dawn Marie Brittingham and Kimberly Slingluff voted in favor of the resolution to suspend the DEI initiatives, while board members Tyron Riddick, Valerie Fields and Karen Jenkins voted against the resolution.
Suffolk, along with Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Hampton have all certified to suspend DEI initiatives, while Norfolk voted to uphold DEI initiatives, with some qualifications.
DEI policy suspended so school division can ‘be in compliance’: Board member
Board member Tyron Riddick, who voted against adopting the resolution, was critical of it. He said the division’s equity policy was in place “to achieve a greater good” for all Suffolk students, and said that “if it wasn’t necessary, we would have never put it into writing.”
“We are the only city in the entire state that is under a desegregation order, and we want to talk about the relevance of an equity policy?” Riddick said.
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“Remember, we’re suspending the policy,” Slingluff said. “The policy is not being eliminated completely. We are suspending it so that we can be in compliance, so that we can receive the monies necessary. It’s kind of a Catch-22… We’re talking, the students could be at a loss either way. If services are eliminated because of it being considered as a diversity, equity and inclusion program, then there’s services that could be eliminated. But also, there are services that are going to be eliminated for our students if we lose a minimum of $9.5 million, so we’re really in a spot where we need to take time as a board and collaborate and evaluate and look at this.”
She said the immediate threat is losing money, which is a guaranteed loss of services to students if the school division loses the money.
Work will continue to support Suffolk, Virginia, students: Superintendent
Superintendent Dr. John Gordon said the only DEI-related policy in place in the school division was the one being discussed during Thursday’s meeting.
“We have had to have conversations with our schools on what the work will look like to ensure that there is no discrimination,” Gordon said.
As of Wednesday, Gordon said there were 121 school divisions out of 132 in Virginia that had signed this policy. Those that did not, he said, have different funding sources that Suffolk does not.
He said the work would still continue to support the division’s students.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve been put into a no-win situation,” Gordon said. “Don’t sign the policy, lose $9.6 million. Or, as [was] alluded to, potentially even additional federal funds for meals, or do sign the policy and feel like you are literally turning your back on what you believe in. So it’s a tough situation. … There is fear of retaliation toward school divisions, and it’s just terrible. There’s really no other way to say it.”
