Burlington School Board Chair Clare Wool and other district representatives pushed back Thursday on outgoing Superintendent Yaw Obeng’s statements earlier this week that he was not consulted on a letter that recommended the continuation of the school resource officer program.
In an interview with VTDigger Thursday, Wool said Obeng was sent the letter in draft form for his approval, and that Obeng had sent back a note on June 10 saying “Thank you Stephanie and all for constructing this” in response to Wool, Stephanie Phillips, executive director of teaching and learning and Mattie Scheidt, the principal of Hunt Middle School.
The letter was “collaboratively drafted,” Wool said, by those whose names were listed at the bottom. Henri Sparks, the district’s director of equity, said he wrote the bulk of the contents.
Phillips authorized the district’s interim communication specialist to send it to Mayor Miro Weinberger from Obeng’s email account shortly after Obeng’s response on June 10.
Obeng told VTDigger earlier this week that he was in Kansas City and was not consulted on the letter. He said if he were around, he would have the staff review the contract between the district and police department before making a recommendation to the school board.
“I know it comes from the superintendent district email – I did not sign any document to that effect,” he said.
Along with Obeng, the signatories of the letter were: Sparks, Wool, Scheidt, Phillips, Noel Green, the principal of Burlington High School, and Megan McDonough, the principal of Edmunds Middle School.
“The board takes seriously a recommendation from district staff who have dedicated their careers to serving our students and community,” Wool said. “Three of the undersigned are Building Administrators who work directly with students on a daily basis and are familiar with student/SRO relations.”
Efforts to reach Obeng on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Wool apologized for authorizing the letter without consulting the full board at Tuesday’s school board meeting. She said that the board had not discussed and had not taken a position on the SROs.
“As much as board members have been asked to act expeditiously, The Burlington Board of School Commissioners is committed to act as a collaborative group that proceeds mindfully on this important matter and takes advantage of resources provided through restorative practices,” Wool said.
The board’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee is set to discuss SROs at its next meeting, scheduled for June 23 at 6:30 p.m.
The push to remove police officers from the schools is part of the demands of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, which is also calling for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers and the firing of Officers Jason Bellavance, Cory Campbell and Joe Corrow, all of whom are named in police brutality lawsuits filed by black men.
More than 1,000 people signed up for the public forum at Burlington’s City Council meeting, which continued Tuesday and wrapped up Wednesday. Residents called in to express support of the Racial Justice Alliance’s demands, including removing officers from schools.
A group including the Vermont ACLU and Kiah Morris, policy director of Rights & Democracy, wrote a letter Tuesday to the school board opposing the SRO program.
“The placement of law enforcement officials in schools in recent decades in response to the war on drugs was disproportionately directed at people of color,” the letter states. “Unfortunately, the resulting School Resource Officer role that emerged over the years causes a pattern of harm to children.”
Wool said Thursday that she believed the SRO program in the district has been successful over the past five years.
“In my leadership over the last two years, I have not heard anything come across my desk or our board that would speak anything but support, as this letter speaks about, our SRO program here in the city of Burlington,” she said.
