FROM THE EDITOR: Democracy Requires Leaders Who Say "Enough Is Enough"
Monday evening's Spotsylvania School Board meeting went too far for Chair Megan Jackson. More leaders should follow her lead.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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There comes a point in time when serious-minded leaders must pause and ask, When is enough, enough?
Megan Jackson has given that question considerable thought.
Speaking during Board comments on Monday night, the issue was clearly on her mind. Chairperson Jackson said of Superintendent Clint Mitchell’s experiences that “There are a handful of people who attack, attack, attack.” The nastiness, she continued, is completely uncalled for. “I don’t know when we’re going to get back to as a county, as a country, as a people being able to disagree with someone without hate and insults…. We desperately need to … find our way back to decency and collaboration and lead by example.”
It’s a question many are asking. Monday night, she was forced to move beyond thought and lead by example.
Thoughtful Speech
Public education is that rare institution that invites debate on many levels — often intensely.
The institution exists to serve children. Among parents who both grasp the importance of education and are engaged with their children’s intellectual development, disagreements with teachers and administrators are bound to emerge over a child’s 13 years in public school.
Because public education is supported with tax dollars, the institution is rightly a topic of intense discussion among educational professionals, the political bodies that fund the system, and the policymakers and journalists charged with overseeing it.
And as an institution that is grounded in local communities, school systems must engage with both those in the building on a daily basis and those who may never set foot inside but understand the importance of strong local public schools for the community’s economic development.
In all these ways, debate over public education is occurring in real time on multiple levels. That debate can be both intense and productive, so long as all parties accept that these discussions engage in mutual respect, are approached with humility that recognizes the limits of each person’s understanding, and are based in an appreciation that those in the school system genuinely want the best for the children in their care.
Such are the hallmarks of thoughtful speech.
The deeper national politics infiltrate public schools, however, the harder these discussions become, as thoughtful speech finds itself increasingly crowded out by uncivil speech.
Uncivil Speech
Public comment opened Monday night with a speaker dressed in a cartoonish Mexican costume and wearing sunglasses while rambling about recently convicted bus aide Miguel A. Velasquez Velasco who is now facing up to 200-years in prison for molesting special needs children.
Spewing a series of phrases that could be kindly construed as culturally insensitive, the speaker crossed the line for Jackson when he broke into song about “diddling” children on the bus.
The hallmarks of thoughtful speech are … mutual respect, … humility that recognizes the limits of our own understanding, and … appreciation that those in the school system genuinely want the best for the children in their care
Gaveling the speaker and asking him to stop did not work, so the microphone was cut. When the speaker refused to stop, Jackson referenced his “racist rhetoric” and ultimately called for a break, left the dais, went to the back of the room, and asked the deputies to remove him.
Returning from break, Jackson noted that “your First Amendment right does not come without consequences as we have decorum that we require in the meetings. That is in policy and in VA code…. Any other disruptions you will be asked to leave.”
Defending the Common Good
The removed speaker and those there to support him protested his First Amendment rights were being infringed.
Set aside the legal question about removing speakers from School Board meetings, however, and reframe the evening’s events another way.
School Boards exist to oversee the functioning of what is in most localities the governmental body that touches the most families and consumes the greatest percentage of tax dollars.
The challenges before these Boards are significant. Successes are often glossed over, while missteps are magnified.
Such is the nature of the job.
Uncivil speech is the product of disrespect, arrogance, and a disdain for civic institutions and its leaders.
Constituents can certainly express their displeasure. But how much further would their cases go if they were framed as thoughtful speech, as opposed to the uncivil discourse that has for too many years been a hallmark of Spotsylvania School Board meetings in particular.
While thoughtful speech is grounded in respect, humility, and appreciation for the role leaders must play, uncivil speech is the product of disrespect, arrogance, and a disdain for civic institutions and its leaders.
Left unchecked, uncivil speech will end in the degradation of any democratic institution, like a school board.
Thoughtful speech, by contrast, both uplifts civic institutions and holds them to account.
Jackson is right to wrestle with the strains of uncivil speech, and when enough of said speech is enough.
Monday evening, she moved beyond thought to action and drew a line.
Let justices decide as they will on the legal merits of that action should it come to that.
Drawing a line on uncivil speech — be it from the left of the right — however, is to be respected.
Board members serve to put the school system in the best position possible to serve its students, care for its employees, and perform in a way that bolsters the community.
And that demands that sometimes our elected leaders say, “Enough is enough.”
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I support and applaud Ms. Jackson's leadership.
Speakers who complain loudly and often about their displeasure with the SB and SCPS should reflect upon the patience and maturity they have received while they speak and often act childish.
Kudos to SB chairwoman Megan Jackson for enforcing the required decorum expected at the public podium. She did what was not done in many years.
Please continue to call out and evict when necessary public speakers who disrespect the SB, SCPS and the people by not respecting and abiding by the generous public speaking policy.