Mason said she believed the “extreme talent” in the room could “be used in many other ways."
However, school staff, who are non-voting members of the committee, presented reasons for continued EDI work. That included millions of dollars in federal sanctions against the school district for disproportionately suspending disabled black students and low reading levels.
Mason ran and won last year on a platform of removing EDI in schools. When Mason was asked to explain her stance during last night’s meeting, she refused to answer. After a long silence, she said she wanted to listen to feedback, not “run through the gambit of questions.”
Some members of the committee noted other parts of her campaign included improvements in academic performance. They pressed the issue, saying no improvement will be seen if EDI is dissolved because those specific students won’t be able to get the support they need.
School board and committee member Hugh McManus expressed frustration and disappointment.
“You were placed [as chair] to implode DEI, and you knew that,” he said to Mason.
McManus called for Mason to step down as chair, and let someone else take the seat.
Committee member Kemeka Sidbury pushed back on Mason’s claims that local EDI data was inaccurate, asking her to substantiate that claim.
“You can say ‘I’ve talked to parents’, but whose parents have you talked to? What is the diversity of your data set? You can’t say ‘I talked to a group of parents’ and then not be able to label your data set. That’s a problem to me. Especially because I’m a parent, and you ain’t talked to me," she said.
The committee voted unanimously to compile a list of questions they want answered at tonight’s meeting of the full school board.
McManus and Walker also voted together to recommend the EDI committee not be dissolved.
Mason wasn’t swayed. She dissented on the vote an is expected to recommend dissolving the EDI committee during Tuesday night's meeting of the full school board. With a GOP majority — four of whom have been critical to varying degrees of the school's EDI work — committee members knew that dissolution was a very real possibility.
As the meeting closed and committee members gave emotional final thoughts, member Malcolm Johnson thanked his fellow members for the time they’ve spent together over the past four years.
“Regardless of what the outcome will be, this does not stop the work that we do. It just creates another roadblock that we can knock down together," he said.