VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Tuesday night over 100 people were signed up to speak at the Virginia Beach School Board Meeting.
This was the first meeting since school leaders passed a resolution suspending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
The resolution was passed without public comment earlier this month, but on Tuesday, voices from both sides were heard.
“In my mind, repealing DEI is meant to help one group and one group only, and that’s people like me. I don’t want or need your help,” one speaker said.
Students and parents expressed their thoughts on the school board resolution to suspend DEI policies.
The decision, made on April 8, came after the Trump administration threatened to withdraw federal funding from schools maintaining DEI policies.
In Virginia Beach, that would amount to about $74 million—funds that supporters of the resolution argue are critical to the community.
“$74 million divided by the population of this city works out to $644 for a family of four,” one advocate noted.
Ahead of public comments, a presentation was given on what work has been done since the resolution passed.
This includes meetings with staff to discuss renaming the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Office of Achievement and Opportunity.
The equity dashboard and plan have also been disabled on the school’s website as these are under review.
However, programs such as Tide Coalition and Beach Girls Rock are not impacted, while others, like the African American Male Summit, remain under review.
“We’re just reviewing whether or not there needs to be an adjustment of the name, but that discussion has a lot of time to develop because the next meeting is in January,” Superintendent Dr. Donald Robertson said.
Robertson said educational, historical, or cultural observances would not be impacted so as long as they don't engage in racial discrimination or exclusion.
Many school leaders argued that the resolution was passed before an April 24th deadline and did not give the public a chance to comment.
"We’ve seen no legal rulings, no urgent mandates, so I ask, why the rush? Where is the evidence that this resolution improves student outcomes,” school board member Sharon Felton said.
Dr. Robertson responded that waiting longer would not have provided enough time for staff to review policies, especially with Spring Break approaching.
“Waiting until April 22 was not going to provide the administration time to do the due diligence needed for me to feel comfortable signing off on this document tomorrow and sending it to the state," he said.
As of Tuesday evening, school leaders said no extracurricular activities have been halted due to the resolution.
