The Newberg school board’s conservative majority is vowing to find a way to legally bullet-proof its ban on Pride and Black Lives Matter symbols as the union that represents the district’s teachers calls the ordinance’s legality into question and the controversy attracts community outcry and condemnation from state and local leaders.
Both the Newberg Education Association and the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union say the board’s order, which directs Superintendent Joe Morelock to draft and implement a ban on “political symbols,” including the Pride flag and Black Lives Matter logo, is unconstitutional.
But the board’s vice chair, who backs the ban and was on the winning side of the 4-3 vote directing Morelock to write one, said Wednesday the panel will rework the wording of the policy to bring it in line with the U.S. and Oregon constitutions.
The board was slated to vote to rescind the ban on Wednesday, according to the meeting agenda.
Just before the roll call vote, however, vice chair Brian Shannon pushed the board to table the matter for two weeks to allow the policy committee to write a replacement ordinance.
Late last month, the school board met with attorney Tyler Smith in a closed-door session to discuss the ban. The board’s conservative majority hired Smith against the protests of the three dissenting members.
Board member Brandy Penner indicated Smith told them their original directive calling for a ban on the pro-Black and gender and sexual orientation inclusive symbols was likely to be found unconstitutional by the courts.
“Our policies are based on law and this, to my current understanding, is illegal,” she said during the board discussion Wednesday.
Shannon countered: “He did give us language that could pass constitutional muster.”
Shannon said he wanted to table the vote pulling back the current policy so the board can vote on a new one at the same time.
He brushed off concerns about a board policy that requires at least two meetings and a public comment period before members can enact a new ordinance. If board members feel the matter is urgent, Shannon said, they can fast-track the process.
It’s likely he has the support to do just that.
The balance of power on the Newberg school board shifted in May as a pair of candidates backed by a conservative political action committee defeated a pair of incumbents to give its conservative members a 4-3 majority.
Since then, the three more liberal members have consistently been outvoted on cultural issues, including on the ban of Pride and Black Lives Matter symbols.
In late August, Penner called out the conversative majority’s skirting of public meetings law to hire Smith as the latest example of them railroading the dissenting members.
“You lost an election. Things aren’t necessarily going your way on all the issues now. Deal with it,” Shannon responded then.
Wednesday’s meeting was the latest turn in the district of about 4,400 students that mirrors the partisan battles playing out with school boards across the state and country. In recent weeks, boards in Oregon have fired superintendents and meetings have at times turned into shouting matches over the state’s mask mandate.
The episodes are illustrative of the high stakes of off-year elections in small communities that typically draw a low turnout. Only 31% of district voters turned out for Newberg’s school board elections.
One race was decided by as few as 169 votes. The widest gap was 700 in an election where nearly 7,500 ballots were cast.
Since then, newly elected board members Trevor DeHart and Renee Powell have voted in lockstep with Shannon and board Chair Dave Brown, typically over protest from Penner, Rebecca Piros and Ines Peña, the lone person of color on the board.
Wednesday evening was no different.
Shannon ran the virtual meeting for the second time in three weeks despite being the vice chair. Brown said he wasn’t feeling well and kept his camera off during most of the hour long gathering.
As Director of Data and Assessment Derek Brown addressed the board on the efficacy of masks and other COVID-19 mitigation measures, Shannon became combative as he questioned the graphs and charts in the presentation.
At one point, Derek Brown gave board members a rundown of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention simulation that concluded 91% of students would come down with COVID-19 over 107 days in an environment where they didn’t wear masks and weren’t tested.
With masks, only about 49% of students would contract the virus, the study showed.
Shannon posited the state mask mandate may not be effective if half of the district’s students might become infected three months into the school year, anyway.
“What would you say to the idea that we’re deluding ourselves?” Shannon said. “You’re giving people a false sense of security.”
The interaction was part of the board’s wider discussion on whether to maintain its masks-optional policy, which was superseded by Gov. Kate Brown’s July 29 order requiring everyone in a school building to wear a face covering regardless of vaccination status.
Throughout the discussion, DeHart questioned the efficacy of masks and asked Derek Brown if he’s seen any studies that explore whether mask-wearing affects children’s mental and emotional well-being.
Brown said he hadn’t. That’s when Peña chimed in to tell her fellow board members about the toll COVID-19 took on her.
In addition to the harsh symptoms she felt from the disease, Peña said she constantly worried whether she’d infected her friends or loved ones.
“I can tell you from personal experience that getting COVID messes up with your psychological well-being,” Peña said.
Shannon argued the board should maintain its policy so it’s in place when the governor’s order ends.
Peña, Penner and Piros said keeping the masks-optional policy on the books will only lead to confusion among parents who find two contradictory policies on the district website.
The three women voted against keeping the policy but still lost despite only Brown and Shannon casting dissenting votes. Powell and DeHart abstained.
Shannon said the motion needed to be approved by a majority of the board, not just those actually voting, to go through.
The Newberg school board will meet again Sept. 14. In the lead up to that meeting, Morelock will meet with Shannon, Piros and DeHart to discuss the ban on the Pride and Black Lives Matter symbols.
Meanwhile, classes begin next week.
--Eder Campuzano | 503-221-4344 | @edercampuzano | Eder on Facebook
Eder is The Oregonian’s education reporter. Do you have a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email ecampuzano@oregonian.com.
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