Tensions again ran high at East Aurora School District 131’s board meeting on Monday, Oct. 6, at which the board denounced fellow member Mayra Reyes’ comments last year about the district’s dual language program in response to backlash from community members.
At the meeting, during which community members again showed up to criticize Reyes — and the board — the school board issued a statement denouncing her comments and committing to unconscious bias training.
Board member Mayra Reyes came under fire last month for comments she made last year about the district’s dual language program during an interview for an open school board position, according to past reporting.
“I struggle with the fact that we are now giving the advantage that Spanish speakers may have at one point or another had over somebody who wasn’t bilingual,” Reyes said in the audio obtained by The Beacon-News of the portion of the interview that has generated backlash from community members.
In the audio recording, she goes on to give the example that an “African American kid who did not grow up speaking Spanish” might now be able to speak Spanish “along with the kid who did grow up speaking Spanish and may have at one point had a job translating,” saying that the African American child now “can do that, too.”
East Aurora’s dual language program offers instruction in both Spanish and English, and aims to “prepare students for a bright future with abilities to listen, speak, read and write in both English and Spanish, as well as develop an appreciation for different cultures,” according to the district website.
The district’s student body is nearly 90% Hispanic, with Black students making up about 7.6% of the district’s student population, per the most recent available data from the Illinois State Board of Education.
Reyes was not ultimately selected for the open board seat last year, but ran for a position on the board during the April election, during which she and current board member Vannia Valencia ousted
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two incumbent board members, Theodia Gillespie and Bruce Schubert.Then, last month, the NAACP, Quad County Urban League and other local Black leaders voiced their concerns with the district over Reyes’ comments and called on her to resign at the district’s Sept. 15 school board meeting.
Those concerns continued at Monday’s meeting, and some of the criticism again extended to the board as a whole for its handling of the situation.
“Your silence tells this community that discrimination is acceptable, that it’s fine to deny opportunities for some children so that others can have an advantage, or keep an advantage,” longtime educator Cynthia Latimer, who also spoke at the previous meeting calling for Reyes’ resignation, said about the board on Monday.
Some of the comments centered around a request that the board issue a censure, essentially a formal disapproval, over Reyes’ comments.
At the meeting, district attorney Bernie Weiler said a censure has “specific consequences that must be … dealt with in accord with” the district’s board policies, which are based on a code of conduct for board members. That code of conduct, Weiler said, only pertains to actions taken while an individual is actively serving on the board.
Weiler went on to say that, per the district’s policies, where a request for a censure is not covered by its board policies, it would then be deferred to Robert’s Rules of Order, a guide to parliamentary procedure. Those rules on board discipline, Weiler said, would also only apply to conduct that occurs when a person is serving on the board.
“Sanctioning someone for speaking as an individual and as a member of the community … is not something that is called for,” Weiler said.
The board can, however, make comments related to a person’s conduct, Weiler said.
At the meeting, board President Juan Sifuentes gave a statement on behalf of the board.
“The Board of Education of East Aurora School District 131 stands united in denouncing the statement made a year ago by a resident of the district during a closed session, who has since been elected to the board, that suggested providing dual language services to African American students would somehow disadvantage our bilingual Hispanic students,” Sifuentes said.
He said the comment “does not reflect the values of this board, nor the community we serve,” and said the board “has never considered, will not consider and will not take any action that deprives any student of the services and opportunities they deserve.”
Sifuentes said the board will be doing training “to root out unconscious bias, ensuring that our decisions, conduct and words reflect our values of equity and inclusion.”
Adding to Sifuentes’ comments, board Vice President Saul Olivas said he is “committed to working together to ensuring that our district moves forward, to ensuring our students — all students — get what they need.”
Board Secretary Judd Lofchie said he did not support Reyes’ comments, but emphasized that she was not ultimately picked to fill the seat at the time of the interview. He added that he has “not seen any racism whatsoever from … Reyes, or anyone on this board.”
He also addressed the makeup of the school board.
“We would love to have an African American representative on this board,” he said at Monday’s meeting. “So you put one up and we will support them. I will, I’m sure that most of us will.”
Lofchie also criticized the release of the audio recording, which was from a closed session of the board, questioning if the reason for it was “for political gain.”
And he pointed out that East Aurora School District Superintendent Robert Halverson has only been leading the district for six months, requesting that the community “give him time to fix the issue.”
Before the Sept. 15 school board meeting, Halverson sent out an email addressed to the “East Aurora Team” addressing the community concerns and writing that the district is “deeply committed and dedicated to making the district strong, welcoming and supportive for everyone.”
On Monday, Halverson said there’s a meeting scheduled with constituents about the situation. A district spokesperson told The Beacon-News the meeting is set for next week.
“I look forward to the meetings, I welcome the meetings,” Halverson said. “I’m excited to work together with the community to figure out how we can move forward for all students, for sure.”
At the Monday meeting, Halverson said the district will be “diving into the data” to see what it needs to focus on, specifically for the district’s Black students, and that the district has an “immediate plan in place” to address “unconscious bias and racism.”
That immediate plan, the district spokesperson told The Beacon-News, includes forming a group made up of staff to review district data and discuss experiences within its schools. The district will also be offering additional anti-racism training, developing an improvement plan and considering in-person speakers and training for staff.
Other board members on Monday also gave their thoughts on the situation.
Board member Vannia Valencia said she endorsed Sifuentes’ statement, but added that Reyes’ full response about the dual language program in the interview “was more complex than what has been portrayed.”
“What concerns me is that this nuance is being lost,” Valencia said. “That some are only hearing what they want to hear. Others may have been misinformed. And some, perhaps intentionally, are stoking division between Black and brown communities.”
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Board member Annette Johnson also agreed with Sifuentes’ statement, and said that the board “want(s) to ensure that all of the students, staff and community have what they need from the school district to be successful.”
She said she wants the board to “get back to the many issues that the district faces,” like declining enrollment and the loss of state and federal revenue.
Board member Brian Moreno also said he didn’t support Reyes’ comments, and pointed to his love for the district’s “diversity and unity.”
“When I hear comments that divide us,” Moreno said, “it makes me sick.”
Reyes, who apologized for her comments at the Sept. 15 meeting, again spoke about the situation at Monday’s meeting.
“It truly was just a mistake that I made,” Reyes said on Monday. She said her “use of African Americans as an example” in her answer in the interview “was not what it’s made out to be,” and that she has never said she wants African American students removed from the dual language program or for the program to not be offered to them.
Reyes asked the community members who spoke at the recent meetings to meet with her and “maybe get to understand … where (she) was coming from that day.”
And she said one of the reasons she interviewed for the board position, and later ran for a seat, was the dual language program.
“My intention was never to hurt anybody, or leave anybody out of any program that the district offers,” Reyes said. “I did not run on that.”