POWHATAN, Va. -- A week after its meeting was canceled because of a large turnout, the Powhatan County School Board held another meeting Monday night at a larger venue following alleged racial incidents within the system.
Monday's meeting comes after last week's at a smaller venue was canceled due to a large turnout spurred by an urgent plea from the Powhatan NAACP.
The NAACP initially put out a call to gather at the school board meeting after a photo circulated on social media -- which allegedly showed a Powhatan High School student with a racial slur written on her arm.
The fire marshal instructed the board to suspend the meeting after the room became overcrowded.
At Monday's nearly three-hour-long meeting, hundreds came out to share their experiences and concerns over alleged racism in schools.
Powhatan School Board members individually made their first public comments on the alleged concerns, condemning the alleged incidents, calling for discipline reform, and asking parents to do more to educate their children.
In an email sent to CBS 6, 5th District School Board Member Michele Ward called what happened abhorrent and, along with another member, is calling for a review of those policies.
Advocates say they were upset when the original meeting was canceled and felt they were being silenced. However, they were able to voice their concerns at the rescheduled meeting.
"Something has to change. I can't live like this," someone said. It was an outcry from students, teachers, and community members that echoed through the Powhatan County High School auditorium.
The space isn't typically used to host school board meetings but the school board felt it could accommodate the larger-than-usual crowd.
Many showed up to the meeting wearing black, and holding signs that read "Racism is a pandemic too," "more accountability," and "we demand accountability."
"I'm called the N-word, monkey, slave. I've reported this every day and nothing has changed," one middle-schooler said.
"Today I had to send out no less than three kids because they thought the N-word is funny and I'm over it," a teacher shared.
Many speakers also echoed the same sentiment, saying the current policy is not strong enough. They say a lack of enforcement enables bad behavior.
"I feel as though I can't report anything because y'all keep it on the low and give it little investigation or consequences. It makes me not want to report anything," a student said.
On Friday, the Powhatan NAACP chapter sent letters to school and county officials asking leaders to review policies already and create a new punishment level for discrimination and hate speech incidents.
Parents and community members also made similar demands. "The behavior is able to continue year after year because these kids are not learning from the disciplinary actions they are given from the current policies today."
On the other side, some spoke in favor of the current policy, saying that it does not need to change. A handful of residents came to the meeting, holding signs that read "the NAACP keeps racism on life support."
"If things are as bad as what I'm hearing tonight, I would think I would see it everywhere and I don't," community member Steve Jenkins said.
Board members responded to concerns, condemning the use of discriminatory language in schools, while also acknowledging that work needs to be done.
"We can work harder to try to educate our students to be more diligent to have a safer environment for our students," board member Vicki Hurt said.
Board member Jeanne Wade said she feels they need to set up a workshop to discuss the next steps for policy and procedures.
The board did not take any immediate steps to change any policies Monday night.
The next board meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 9.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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