DPS superintendent cites racial history, calls for ‘reset’ following DAE incident
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- DEA president frames Feb. 19 incident as a racial 'teaching moment'
- DEA president apologized; petition calls for DAE reflection and resignation
- Lewis calls for a reset on respect, dignity and professional decorum
What began as a breach of professional decorum has evolved into a public conversation over racial history, dignity and leadership in Durham.
Days after the president of the Durham Association of Educators made a public apology for calling Durham Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Lewis by his first name, he released an expanded statement Thursday night, reframing the tense interaction as a vital “teaching moment” and calling for a “reset” on respect.
The incident happened at a Feb. 19 “Meet & Confer” meeting when Lewis cut off DAE President Mika Twietmeyer because the meeting had run over time. The meetings have brought DPS administration and DAE members together in sometimes tense meetings to negotiate wages, policy and meeting the needs of students, educators and the school community.
While Twietmeyer acknowledged in her apology the historical context of a white woman calling a Black man by his first name in a public and professional setting, her response has sparked debate on and offline among Durham’s local leaders and residents.
A petition signed by a number of Durham educators and residents calls for more reflection from DAE and for Twietmeyer’s resignation.
“As a Black man serving as Superintendent, I cannot ignore the historical context in which informality toward Black professionals, particularly those in positions of authority, has been used to diminish status and erode credibility,” Lewis wrote. He also shared his remarks during Thursday’s regular school board meeting.
Lewis’ response
Lewis’ initial response to the incident did not acknowledge the first-name calling, but in his expanded statement, he moved beyond it to give his perspective in personal history and the systemic erasure of Black dignity in America.
He recalled watching his grandmother address white women younger than she with “yes ma’am” and “no ma’am,” while she cleaned their homes.
“As a child, I did not yet have the language to describe what I was witnessing. But I understood dignity. I understood humility. And I understood the discipline of respect, even when respect was not equally returned,” Lewis wrote.
Lewis said he was not responding to being called by his first name because of ego.
“It is not about titles for the sake of titles. It is about professionalism, respect, cultural awareness, and what our students learn when they watch how adults treat one another,” he wrote. “There is enough dysfunction at the federal and state level. If we begin to exercise it at the local level, we work against the very reason we show up every day, and that is for the scholars of Durham Public Schools.”
He further linked the incident to the Jim Crow era, where the refusal to use titles like “Mr.” or “Dr.” was a tool of subservience.
“This is bigger than a microaggression,” Lewis wrote. “Intent does not erase impact.”
A city on edge
The fallout at the school board level mirrors a broader breakdown in civility across Durham’s political landscape.
Just one day after the Meet & Confer incident, Mayor Leo Williams faced a frustrated group at a news conference. A handful of residents, passionate about the city’s ongoing struggle with gun violence, confronted Williams, pressing him on the need for more action and caused him to end the conference early.
The news conference came after a string of deadly shootings in the span of a week, and on the heels of the Durham City Council ending programs meant to tackle gun violence. Williams has caught heat from critics who question his leadership and his action on the city’s most pressing issues.
The mayor said he doesn’t want the division and loudest critiques to distract from his overall mission to improve Durham.
“There’s nothing civil about trying to tear down a person because you don’t like the fact that they won the position that is shared by everyone,” Williams said in a phone call. “That goes into the microaggression of trying to reduce someone out of their position that they work hard for by intentionally calling them by their first name ... We have to have a shared interest in trying to make this community better.”
In an op-ed to The News & Observer, community advocate Donald Hughes questioned why there was more outrage from residents over the Meet & Confer incident than on other urgent crises in the city.
“If intentionally omitting “Dr.” warrants public statements and demands for apology, where is this same organized moral urgency when Black youth are killed by gun violence?” Hughes wrote. “Where is the coordinated outcry over literacy rates that continue to lag for Black students? Where is the sustained pressure around long-term achievement gaps?”
A call to action
In his statement, Lewis warned that this local dysfunction works against the city’s children.
“We cannot ask our students to rise above bias if adults refuse to examine their own,” he wrote, calling for a collective recommitment to professional norms and implicit- bias training for leadership.
A month ago, Lewis also called for retraining of all DPS staff after the indictment of three former administrators who allegedly lied under oath about an incident in which a student with autism was tied to a chair.
“This moment, while difficult, is also a teaching moment,” Lewis said. “If our students are watching, and they are, let them see adults reflect, grow, and recommit to treating one another with dignity. Let them see that respect is not optional. Let them see that leadership requires accountability. Let them see that you have one time to teach people how to treat you. Let them see that we can confront harm and still move forward together.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 10:40 AM.