Durham board member calls out teachers’ ‘threats’ during schools reopening debate

A divided Durham school board decided Tuesday night that students will return to classrooms this month as scheduled, with one board member excoriating teachers for alleged bullying during the reopening debate.

Elementary school students will return to class March 15, while middle and high school students will begin returning April 8. Families can still choose to remain in virtual classes.

The back-and-forth decision making has strained relations between some Durham Public Schools community members and school board members. The board has received hundreds of comments from parents and educators on both sides of the issue about the decision to be in classrooms again.

The board’s vice chair, Mike Lee, said teachers have bullied him over his vote to reopen schools, with some staff alluding to his three children in their criticisms.

“Threatening families, threatening board members, attacking them for their opinion and their beliefs,” he said. “That is not organizing.”

A motion to resume in-school instruction for all students April 8 failed in a 4-3 vote. Those who supported pushing back the start date wanted to give teachers more time to get vaccinated. Teachers became eligible Feb. 24 for the vaccine.

The meeting came after the legislature’s school reopening bill, which would have required schools to offer some form of in-person classes, reached the end of its life Monday.

Last Thursday, the DPS Board of Education discussed delaying reopening classrooms. It had called an emergency meeting the week before and approved a March 15 start date for elementary school students, anticipating the possible passage of Senate Bill 37, which would have required in-person instruction within 15 days.

But Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition to SB 37 cast doubt on the bill’s future, so the board agreed to wait five days to weigh its options and until the governor acted on the bill.

‘Pulled the rug out’ from under the staff

Board member Matt Sears, who proposed the April 8 date, said the board had “pulled the rug out” from under the staff when they voted to re-open classrooms at an emergency meeting in February.

He said the extra time could give more educators a chance to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

“For me, this is as much about trust with our staff, as it is about the safety factor,” he said.

He added that the district has spent years building relations between administration and staff, giving teachers more of a say in DPS decision-making.

“I’m concerned that sticking with a March 15 date will throw away a lot of that relationship for just two weeks of face-to-face instruction,” he said. “And I don’t want to see that happen.”

Some local leaders had immediately condemned the board’s reopening decision at the emergency meeting, which didn’t allow for public comments. Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam sent out a statement that night, in which she wrote, “This lack of transparency is problematic.”

Durham Association of Educators members and supporters also denounced the board’s decision on the union’s public Facebook page.

Sears, Natalie Beyer and Alexandra Valladares backed the proposed April 8 date, but a majority decided to stick with the district’s original plan.

Board chair Bettina Umstead, Jovonia Lewis, Frederik Ravin and Lee voted against the delay.

Umstead, who cast the deciding vote, expressed confidence in DPS’s preparation work, including changing the air filters in school buildings and prioritizing vaccinations for teachers.

The school district is currently working with Durham County and Duke Health to vaccinate 1,000 school personnel a week.

‘You disagree with us, you’re dead to me.’

Lewis expressed concern about the mental health of students who struggled with remote learning.

A staggered approach, bringing elementary students back March 15 and secondary students back April 8, would also put less pressure on the school system, she said.

Lee echoed Lewis’ concerns about students’ mental health, and said community division is “probably at its highest peak” in his seven years on the board.

“When I met with the teachers before the emergency meeting, not one word was said about the health and wellness of our students. It was about what the teachers want,” he said.

Parents across the district, including himself, are only seeing a shell of what their children used to be, he said.

“Do I vote against the interests of my child, who I know needs to be in school? I can’t do that as a board member,” he said.

Then, he rebuked teachers and condemned “the vitriol, the hate, the threats” he’s seen “towards parents who simply wanted to bring their kids back because they are struggling.”

“This may be the first disagreement that I’ve had with the teachers,” he added. “And the first thing they say is ‘vote him out.’ ‘You should resign.’ ‘You want our teachers to die.’”

He looked at both sides of the reopening debate and formed his opinion after talking to officials, he said.

“In almost every situation, it has been, ‘With the proper protocols, schools can open.’ But having that opinion apparently calls for hate and threats,” he said. “That’s where we are here in Durham. ‘You disagree with us, you’re dead to me.’”

Michelle Burton, the president of Durham Association of Educators, told The N&O she felt disheartened by Lee’s comments.

“No one should be spoken to in a threatening manner, if that’s the case. I don’t know who they are, I don’t know who he speaks of,” she said.

“But I will say that it’s important that educators’ voices are heard. We encourage our members to lift up their voices, to let public officials know how they’re feeling about a situation in a respectful manner,” she added.

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 7:06 PM.