21 Mar WCCUSD School Board Says It’s Received Threats, Racist Messages

(Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Trustee Mister Phillips knew he might face death by joining the military. Sitting on the West Contra Costa school board isn’t the same, but he still has worries of his own. He has a wife, a family.

School board members, who are mostly people of color, say they have faced threats against themselves and family in response to one member’s censure and a principal’s reassignment. Some have been calling for members to be recalled as well.

President Jamela Smith-Folds offered the names of civil rights leaders to the board for comfort — Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. Phillips had names of his own — Betty, Myrlie and Coretta, the respective wives of Malcolm X, Evers and King. 

“My wife is not trying to be Coretta, Myrlie or Betty, ” said Phillips. ”I have to be here.”   

While discussing an antiracism statement and ethics committee Wednesday, some members took issue with a sentence in the statement and the committee as a whole, saying they might be used against certain board members. Phillips, who raised the initial concerns, referred to the board’s handling of Trustee Leslie Reckler’s censure and backlash from the community for that and the reassignment of Pinole Valley High School principal Kibby Kleiman. 

“We commit to holding each board member accountable towards these goals and moving the work of antiracism forward,” that sentence reads. 

Phillips’ attempt to change that sentence, mainly because of the word “accountable” and how it had been used during Reckler’s censure, failed. The board did pass the original antiracism statement 3-2 with Phillips and Reckler abstaining, but the divide was familiar. 

Phillips, Reckler and student trustee Lola Abdugapparov wanted to know what being held accountable meant and what it looked like.  

Community members have their own definitions of it. Since Reckler’s censure, some from the El Cerrito High School and Pinole Valley communities have become increasingly vocal about their distrust and frustration with four board members. Residents have entertained recall efforts for the four who either voted to censure Reckler or reassign Kleiman — Smith-Folds, Clerk Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy, Phillips and Trustee Otheree Christian. 

Gonzalez-Hoy said one message he received from a member of the community accused the board of treating white people differently. Another, in response to the censure of Reckler, was a threat against his wife.

Phillips has received similar messages. A sender said Phillips and the other three board members who voted to reassign Kleiman need to be removed “by any means necessary.” 

Much of the public criticism of the board, which is all Black or Brown except Reckler, is not overtly racist. But Gonzalez-Hoy said the four had all received racist messages since Kleiman’s reassignment. Members of the public have also made public accusations of the board pushing a “woke agenda” and speculation Reckler and Kleiman were censured and reassigned for being white. 

One interaction some in the community point to is a statement read by Smith-Folds at the Feb. 7 meeting, where she said Reckler had used white tears to get her way and was given more grace than she was as a Black woman. Some community members disliked Smith-Folds’ comments, saying they knew her decisions had been based on Reckler and Kleiman’s race all along. 

Behavior by some of the public and relations on the board is exactly why Phillips is concerned with the language and processes of the board. As a Black man and the longest-sitting board member, he is familiar with how some in the community treat him. Waiting for him to mess up, even trying to bribe him. He worries board decisions like these might mean “open season” on members. 

Smith-Folds said certain language like the word “accountable” was what gave the statement bite. 

Phillips said policy would be more effective. 

“For us to actually have the bite that you’re talking about, it’s not statements. It’s policy,” said Phillips. 

The board says it has seen racist incidents every year in the district. Just within the last year, reports of anti-Black racism in the district have sparked conversations surrounding the use of the n-word and discrimination against Black Student Unions. 

>>>Read: RHS Student Says Things Are ‘a Little Bit Better’ After Protest Against N-Word

In the coming meetings, the board will also see a district antiracism statement.

The next WCCUSD board meeting is on April 10.