Silence is not a viable option for the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education.
That’s the tactic the school board is taking after a bombshell report of racism was published by the Sentinel two weeks ago.
The report from an outside special investigator summarized that two Black school board members had for months, possibly longer, racially harassed outgoing Superintendent Rico Munn.
Munn is also Black.
The controversy became public June 20 when the Sentinel reported that APS Board members Stephanie Mason and Tramaine Duncan on numerous occasions reviled Munn for not being supportive enough of Black APS employees or working hard enough to recruit more, according to a report from an investigator who specializes in scurrilous employment claims.
They told Munn he wasn’t “Black enough,” according to the investigation report by employment attorney and investigator Doug Hamill.
Board directors Michael Carter and Anne Keke, both of whom are Black, and board member Vicki Reinhard and interim Superintendent Mark Seglem all said in interviews with an investigator that Mason and Duncan described Munn as not being Black enough or not protecting Black employees.
Keke told the investigator that Duncan wanted Munn to “act Blacker.”
An outside consultant, who has been working for the school board for several years, told the investigator that Munn’s “Black card” had been scrutinized by some school board members regularly.
Munn, who has led the district for the past 10 years, announced earlier this year that the board would not renew his contract. Neither Munn nor the board would specify details about the split, only that it was a difference in vision for the district.
The report that stemmed from the investigation was much more than unsavory rumors. The allegations against Duncan and Mason were made repeatedly and separately.
Not only did board members apparently repeatedly make disparaging and racist remarks to Munn, but the investigator summarized that the harassment effectively pushed Munn out of the district.
While the entire saga is surreal, the report is well documented and up to this point, undisputed.
Asked June 20 by a reporter to comment on the allegations, officials said they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, until after the school board met in closed session June 28.
After an hour in executive session that night, the board convened a public meeting, with no members of the public there, and announced, publicly, they had no comment and were taking no action.
Munn, in complaint documents, and the investigator, called for either censure, resignation, or at the very least, human relations training for Duncan and Mason, and the rest of the school board.
The ill-conceived decision to say nothing and do nothing makes the harm created by the documented harassment even more damaging to the school board and the district.
It’s likely that the board members are couching further action behind previous separation agreements with Munn, dictating that neither side publicly comment. Or the school board has been advised that the district is now ripe for a lawsuit filed by Munn.
Total silence, however, and the lack of transparency only makes the situation worse.
It seems impossible for Duncan and Mason to justify their repeated remarks about Munn’s “Blackness,” and with so many witnesses it would be ludicrous for them to attempt to deny it.
But it’s inconceivable and unacceptable for the school board to ignore such an inflammatory and repulsive scandal.
The public deserves an explanation of the behavior of Duncan and Mason, and to know what the board will do to prevent such a debacle in the future, possibly with the next APS superintendent, Michael Giles. He started this week, and he is also Black.
Nothing but political correctness to the max!