Communities in Virginia Beach fight back as local school board votes to suspend DEIA programming

NEED TO KNOW:

• Early this year, President Trump issued an executive order to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives.
• Gov. Glenn Youngkin supported Trump’s plan, despite its potential impact on Virginia schools.
• After a great deal of community pushback, the Virginia Beach School Board voted to comply with Trump’s order.
• After that vote, a federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order. However, the Virginia Beach School Board decided to comply with it anyway. 
• Virginia Beach community members have been speaking out against removing DEIA initiatives in K-12 schools at Virginia Beach school board meetings.

Frustrated community members from across Virginia Beach are speaking out following the Virginia Beach School Board’s recent vote to suspend diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives in K-12 schools.

“This was never about programs, it’s about politics,” said Melissa Lukeson, a parent in Virginia Beach, during a recent school board meeting.

The decision comes months after President Trump issued an executive order to cut federal funding for public schools with DEIA programs, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin and several state education officials welcomed. 

“These efforts are not about improving education; they are about erasure and exclusion,” said Dr. Eric Majette, President of the Virginia Beach NAACP, in a press release before the organization’s recent town hall regarding DEIA policy suspension in local schools. 

Despite arguments addressing privilege and systemic inequity as harmful, research shows that experience with these issues leads to positive changes in students’ attitudes and values and improvements in critical thinking. Additionally, when students have positive diversity experiences, their interest in improving the lives of people in their communities also increases. 

“Our children deserve better than performative caution and political games. They deserve leadership committed to justice, representation, and truth,” Majette said.

How did we get here?

On April 3, the Virginia Beach City School District (VBCSD)—along with other K-12 schools across the US—received a notice stating they had only days to certify they would comply with Trump’s orders to remove what the president called “radical, anti-American ideologies” from their curriculum or risk losing millions of dollars in federal funding.

Despite concerns from several school board members about the order’s effect on after-school tutoring programs and multicultural clubs, in addition to the federal Department of Education’s decision to extend the compliance deadline, the Virginia Beach school board voted 6-3 on April 9 to comply in exchange for receiving federal financial assistance.

Meanwhile, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed several lawsuits accusing the Trump administration of giving “unconstitutionally vague” guidance in the executive order, and violating teachers’ First Amendment rights.

On April 24, three federal judges in New Hampshire, Maryland, and Washington, DC agreed with the NEA and ACLU and blocked Trump’s order. However, by then the Virginia Beach school board had already voted to comply—leaving many school board members unsure how to proceed with their community’s DEIA dilemma. 

Seeing a new opportunity to weigh in on the issue, more than 50 community members of all ages flocked to a special May 6 school board meeting to speak out against the district’s plan to remove DEIA initiatives in their schools. 

“Every day, I work my butt off trying to protect my friends and my rights against other students who believe that everything I believe in and fight for is wrong,” said Hope Panuski, a junior at First Colonial High School in the Legal Studies Academy.

“Policies like this one encourage the creation of a uniform society, and get rid of anyone who is ‘different.’ Please do not comply with this harmful and useless executive order.”

Several educators also spoke out against suspending DEIA policies. 

“Removing diversity, equity, and inclusion from our policies sends a dangerous message not just to educators, but to the students we serve,” said Sarah Clark, a local educator and parent in Virginia Beach.

“It risks undoing years of work to ensure all students can see themselves in the story of America. Eliminating equity from our policies suggests that these stories of resistance, resilience, and injustice are somehow optional or unnecessary—these stories belong in our classrooms.”

After hearing hours of arguments late into the night, a vote to amend the resolution resulted in a 5-5 stalemate due to the resolution’s writer—District 8 board member David Culpepper—being absent from the meeting. 

School board member Matt Cummings, who voted against suspending DEIA in Virginia Beach schools, said he was not surprised by the stalemate.

“I am not surprised by the stalemate, however, given that a judge mentioned the risk of causing irreparable harm through a violation of the First Amendment, I thought that would warrant further concern,” said Cummings in an email to Dogwood. 

“The fact that federal courts issued both stays and preliminary injunctions on the executive order, many folks wonder why we are still proceeding with this initiative.”

Per Virginia’s State Code, the school board was required to revote due to Culpepper’s absence, and the group met again on May 13. 

More than 35 community members, including four students, addressed the school board at that meeting, sharing their support for keeping DEIA in Virginia Beach public schools. 

Despite the community’s outcry, the board voted 6-5 to move forward with the suspension of DEI initiatives. The board’s attorney, Kamala Lannetti, said more information on what changes will be made to school programs and offerings will come in future meetings. 

What’s next?

The Virginia Beach school board expects to hear more and possibly vote on policy changes at its next meeting, being held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27 at the Virginia Beach School Administration Building located at 2512 George Mason Drive in Virginia Beach. The meeting will also be live-streamed on the school board’s website. 

Public seating is available in-person on a first-come, first-served basis. Agenda materials for the May 27 meeting are provided at the in-person meeting, and PDF versions of the agenda are also available online.

Whether you show up in person or tune in online, Virginia education advocates encourage all community members to show up in any way they can. 

“Keep showing up! It is important to voice your opinion even if it seems to fall on deaf ears,” wrote the Virginia Beach Education Association in a Facebook post after the May 13 school board meeting.

“Our students and community are paying attention and need to know we are willing to keep fighting.”