The Hannover NAACP is asking the county board of supervisors to reconsider the appointment of school board members who the organization says have made comments and taken actions contrary to the goals and mission of the school division.

In an open letter Monday, the chapter also asked supervisors, as well as the school board, to participate in professional development courses on diversity, equity and inclusion related to public education.

Hanover is one of the few localities in Virginia where school board members are appointed rather than elected. Each council member is appointed by one of the seven county supervisors and serves a four-year term.

“New leadership is needed,” said Patricia Hunter-Jordan, president of the Hannover NAACP, in Monday’s letter.

“The future of Hanover County will be brighter and more successful with a school division whose board exemplifies and prioritizes diversity, inclusion and equity,” she wrote.

The NAACP chapter claimed that some members of the school board “have failed to show respect and understanding for the true and inclusive history of America and Hanover, and recent current events with respect to a diverse population, especially black and brown students,” “shared false health information publicly” and showed “a reluctance to separate religion from divisive political decisions and interactions with the public.”

The chapter specifically targeted the school board defend for withdrawal from school libraries of a book by a black author who described the experiences of black Americans and his legal and political consultation with two anti-LGBTQ groups, the Alliance for the Defense of Liberty and the Family Foundation.

The organization also said it was concerned about the “non-transparent” nomination process, particularly the nomination of school board member John Redd of the Mechanicsville District, who declined to comment on the chapter’s claims on the Virginia Mercury.

Redd previously served on the school board in the early 1980s before being appointed with a 5-2 vote by the board of supervisors last year.

Monday’s open letter said emails obtained through a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request “show that Mr. Redd’s motivation to seek the seat was in part fueled by his anger over the name changes” made to the schools. division in 2020.

That year, the Hanover School Board renamed two schools formerly known as Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School to Mechanicsville and Bell Creek, respectively, as part of a larger campaign across the country. to rename public institutions honoring Confederate officers.

The chapter claimed that Redd “is unwilling or unable to understand the harm inflicted by the schools’ original names” and is determined to “punish the community for their feelings hurt by a little fuss over the schools’ names at the ‘coming”.

Additionally, the chapter claims that the emails show Redd’s “religion-based contempt and harsh judgment toward not only those who seek social justice and inclusive and honest history education…but also toward members of the LGBTQ community, with a special venom directed at transgender students.”

The Hanover School Board is currently facing a lawsuit for failing to adopt policies protecting transgender students in accordance with state law and the model policies of the Virginia Department of Education.

Redd wasn’t the only school board member identified in Monday’s letter. Hanover The NAACP also claimed that school board chairman John Axselle III called black people “people of color” during a 2021 meeting with a parent, objected to students reading stories from various points of view. view and did not see any benefit in diversifying the teaching staff to increase the representation of minorities.

Axselle did not immediately respond for comment.

Hannover NAACP Open Letter