The Marysville Board of Education met on Monday to discuss the board’s feelings about the controversial football team photo that has been in the news recently. Ultimately, the purpose of the meeting was to create a position statement after the district was asked why the board had not said anything for two weeks.
The special meeting was productive and was the first board meeting I have heard in the last six years that I feel like the discussion was a genuine representation of the community. I say this because the conversation showed the divide that exists in the community on school issues, including the photo in question.
Board member Dick Smith wanted to make sure all sides of the community were represented.
Board member Brian Luke spoke up about his feelings as a person who marched for the Black Lives Matter movement. Luke’s comments centered on the photo being a political statement because he believed the students holding flags were making a statement even though their intent was not known. He went on to talk about race and asked if the board was there to preserve free speech for the students. He asked how would the board feel if a player decided to take a knee before the national anthem? He wondered if, in that instance, the board would still support the students and their right to demonstrate?
Amy Powers differed from Luke in that she didn’t want anything specific or any language in the statement about race because she felt that it would stir fires that she said didn’t need to be stirred.
Nan Savage asked if the board didn’t say something about race would it come off as if they were ignoring it?
In my mind, the back and forth discussion was a healthy way to present all sides of the issue. I mention all of this because I have been critical of the board in the past for always voting 5-0, when I know the taxpayers didn’t all agree.
Our point is, six generations of my family have attended Marysville schools, and I want to see the schools succeed and have not been shy about speaking up to provide feedback from the taxpayers’ point of view to help facilitate a path forward.
With that said, I want to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge the real conversation board members had during their recent meeting in hopes that the spirited debate continues in future meetings.