Resignation after anti-LGBTQ attacks leaves open ACS board seat. How will it be filled?
ASHEVILLE - There's an open seat on Asheville City Schools Board of Education following board member Peyton O'Conner's Dec. 5 resignation, and though the school system will swear in its four newly elected members Dec. 15, O'Conner's seat will be filled by Asheville City Council appointment in January.
Deputy City Clerk Sarah Gross said City Council ― and not the school board ― will interview the four candidates who were not elected in November: Pepi Acebo, Jesse Warren, Miri Massachi and William Young Jr.
The interviews will be held at 2 p.m. Jan. 10 in Council Chambers at City Hall, according to a notice on the city website. Assistant City Clerk Jerri Goldberg verified all four candidates confirmed their interest and participation in the interview process.
Previous coverage:
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O'Conner, who is a transgender woman, resigned after repeated anti-LGBTQ attacks from local pastor Ronald Gates, identifying himself as an ambassador of Alliance Defending Freedom. Gates misgendered her during board public comment and pushed homophobic and transphobic rhetoric.
The November election determined the board's first elected members, a historic night for ACS, which had one of the last remaining appointed school boards in the state. Eight candidates ran in the general election. Newly-elected members will grow the board from five to seven, replacing outgoing members Shaunda Sandford and Martha Geitner.
It was a tight race, with Amy Ray, Sarah Thornburg, Rebecca Strimer and Liza English-Kelly clinching the win, in that order, but first runner-up, Acebo, was only 216 votes behind English-Kelly, according to official general election results. Behind Acebo, by 912 votes, was Warren.
Chair James Carter, board member George Sieburg and whoever takes O'Conner's seat will remain until 2024, when all members will be elected to staggered four-year terms, according to ACS spokesperson Dillon Huffman.
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The appointment will give runners-up another shot at the seat, though several candidates voiced dismay at the reason for the vacancy.
“I didn’t see it coming," Warren said of the opportunity to interview. "I’m very sorry about the way this seat came about. And I think for two years, it’s an opportunity for one of us that didn’t make it. … I would love to be the one that they appoint, but any one of us would be worthy of that position.”
Warren is a former U.S. Marine and retired Asheville City Schools MCJROTC instructor. He still regularly volunteers in the school system and is a student at Fayetteville Technical Community College for funeral service, which he hopes reminds students it's never too late to start a second ? or third ? career.
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Similarly, Massachi said she was "very sad" O'Conner was leaving the board and was disgusted by the homophobia on display at the October and November school board meetings during public comment.
“I had very strong feelings about it," Massachi said. "It makes me very sad she’s leaving. I don’t judge her at all (for leaving). I totally understand. It’s just sad this is what our world comes to.”
Massachi, 46, a movement instructor who works with numerous area schools, said she still thinks she would be a good addition to the board, able to bring something different than the newly elected members, such as "kid-focused" ideas. She has two children in the ACS school system, with a third child prepared to start there next year.
Acebo, 52, has applied for school board appointment three times and said he is "absolutely" still interested in the position. Owner of a small batch manufacturing business for children's products, which makes blocks, Acebo named addressing the school system's "behavioral and mental crisis" as a top priority.
Additionally, he wants to bring more preschool classrooms back online and get as close to "universal preschool" as possible.
“I keep showing up regardless of whether I’m elected or not,” Acebo said. “It’s important to have somebody who knows what is going on."
Young was reached for comment Dec. 12 but declined to comment until he heard news of the appointments from the city directly. He did not respond to additional requests for comment by deadline.
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What's the process?
If no other appointed school board members resign before their terms are up, this may be the last time Asheville City Council has its say in appointing a board member.
City Attorney Brad Branham said according to recently adopted legislation, which altered the school board selection process from an appointed board to elected, any vacancies occurring after all sitting members have been elected will need to be resolved by the remainder of that board. The city will no longer have any appointment responsibilities.
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As O'Conner's seat was an appointed one, City Council is tasked with filling this vacancy, Branham said.
"If the appointment isn't finalized within 30 days, then the State Board of Education MAY step and fill the position. However, this is not automatic," he said in a Dec. 14 emailed statement. "The City has scheduled this appointment to occur at the January 10th City Council meeting. Given the permissive rather than mandatory nature of the 30 day timeline, and the fact that the City Council is working currently to complete the task, I do not believe that the State will intervene in the matter."
Threats are 'standard fare' against LGBTQ leaders
When O'Conner resigned, she said her decision came in part to keep her presence on the board from creating "a platform for hatred and vitriol that ultimately plays out in a way that demoralizes our students and staff."
"On the surface, it appears that (Pastor Ronald Gates is) attacking me, but I am merely an easy vessel and a target to allow him to wedge a political divide that will ultimately whittle away at the thin layers of protections we have for our queer students, staff, and family," she said in a Facebook post following her resignation. "I can’t in good conscience give him the foothold and I believe that stepping away may give him less of an opportunity to sow divisiveness."
She and Craig White, supportive schools director with the Campaign for Southern Equality based in Asheville, both said this was part of the Alliance's playbook ― to make continued attacks, wait until they are censured and then leverage it to create a lawsuit.
During the Nov. 16 meeting, where White also spoke during public comment, he noted the group's involvement in several campaigns supporting the forced sterilization of transgender Europeans and a number of anti-LGBTQ court cases.
In White's position with Campaign for Southern Equality, he works with 13 states across the South to help schools and school districts to be more inclusive, welcoming and safe for students of all sexual orientations or gender identities.
“I think targeting school boards, targeting school curriculum is a strategy that we’ve seen a lot in the last couple years, and I think we’re going to see more of it in the next couple years," White said.
He first encountered the Alliance in Loudoun County, Virginia, where they represented several area teachers suing the Loudoun County school system over its policy requiring educators to address transgender students by their pronouns, according to reporting from the Washington Post.
When White heard about potential Alliance involvement in Asheville, they were able to mobilize quickly.
While he said Asheville and Buncombe County are both among the best school districts in the Southeast in terms of policies and practices that support LGBTQ students, "both school districts have a lot of work to do."
The No. 1 thing that can be done to support LGBTQ students, White said, is to "talk to the youth, listen to the youth."
White also pointed to the importance of school districts and educators affirming the fact that LGBTQ students, like all students, are protected from discrimination in schools, such as a Dec. 7 statement made by the Asheville City and Buncombe County Association of Educators, calling for inclusive and safe schools.
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"In recent months, the LGBTQ community in Buncombe County and Asheville City schools has been under increased tension as outside forces have questioned their representation within curricula and pedagogy in our schools," said the statement, which then detailed the verbal attack faced by O'Conner during public comment.
"This sexual harassment, including the repetitive and intentional misgendering of board member (O'Conner) was nothing short of hate speech. Harassment, bullying, and victimization in our schools, including school board meetings, creates a divisive and unsafe environment for all. This is unacceptable."
Huffman, spokesperson with ACS, said a statement read before every school board meeting before public comment, says "a disruption by any person or persons of a public meeting will not be tolerated and can result in removal from the meeting," and can be applied in certain situations of bullying or harassment.
In regard to questions about harassments, Mayor Esther Manheimer said, like the school board, council has condemned hate speech both in words and in action.
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"First let me say I am sad to see Peyton O’Conner resign. As a community we need to stand up to hate speech and support those to whom it is directed," Manheimer said in a Dec. 12 emailed statement. "As leaders we work to make sure Asheville is open, welcoming and supportive."
In general, White said, every LGBTQ leader in the South experiences some level of threat or harassment, which he called “standard fare.”
“In my opinion, every LGBTQ leader makes a choice and continues making a choice about when to step up and when to step back. And in the moments when we choose to step back, that’s not a failure, that’s a recognition that there is 1,000 other LGBTQ leaders who are ready to step up in the South, and it’s just making space for one of them to step in," White said.
“My hope is that the ADF story dies down here, because then ADF starts looking elsewhere, and wherever that elsewhere is, I hope to meet them there as well.”
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email [email protected] or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville City Schools to fill open seat after anti-LGBTQ attacks
