Declaring Fresno schools anti-racist sparks backlash. Why one trustee says he voted ‘no’

Fresno Unified Trustee Terry Slatic cast the lone ”no” vote on a resolution declaring the school district an anti-racism institution, setting off a clash with most of the other trustees, who are women of color.

“This resolution is beautifully, almost poetically written,” Slatic said during the virtual meeting. “Its message is that Fresno Unified must be declared an anti-racist institution. Is that because Fresno Unified is a racist institution?”

“A reasonable person could easily discern this resolution as an oblique accusation of FUSD being, to use that sad and tired phrase, ‘a home to systemic racism.’ I so hope that this board is above that level of partisan thought.”

President Keshia Thomas, who has pushed back at Slatic during his turbulent time as a trustee, told him he was “so far removed from reality.”

“I really try hard not to come at you,” she said, “but that was the most insensitive thing you’ve ever said in this entire time we’ve been on this board.”

“We do have a problem,” she continued, “If you have not seen it, you are the one who has closed your eyes. You sit on a board full of women of color, and you would so fix your mouth to say something like that, especially as hard as this staff has worked to make sure they have done work they should be proud of.”

Slatic said he took issue with the wording of the resolution, which in part read that the district “acknowledges the impact of racism on the academic outcomes and social-emotional well being of students.”

It would also “examine and confront biases in our own school district and actively engage with students, staff, and families to address practices, policies, and institutional barriers that negatively influence learning, perpetuate achievement gaps, and impede equal access to opportunities for all students in order to eradicate institutional bias of any kind, including implicit and unintentional biases, to eliminate disparities in educational outcomes for students from historically underserved and under-represented populations ...”

The resolution passed, with Slatic being the only no vote.

“If this resolution stated that its intent was equal opportunity and a colorblind organization, I wouldn’t be speaking right now, because a colorblind and equal opportunity organization is exactly what every single person who works for FUSD has ever asked for,” Slatic said. “Is it possible that trustees, some who have been on this board for almost 20 years, are more interested in making political statements than providing strategic direction to a school district? That level of disrespect to generations of FUSD staff troubles me to no end.”

Trustee Veva Islas said she was “disturbed” by Slatic’s comments.

“To use the term ‘colorblind’ is a discredit to recognizing that we are diverse, and as a woman of color, I don’t want somebody not to see my color or recognize my history or my ethnicity. That’s not the goal.”

She said the resolution was not framed to disrespect the “history of good teachers we have.”

“It’s an acknowledgment that there there is a problem and that there has been disadvantage for some students. To walk by that is a disrespect to those students that have suffered those negative impacts.”

Trustee Valerie Davis shot down the idea that the resolution was political. She said it was a signal to the community “that our eyes are wide open and we are not blind, but we recognize our differences, celebrate them, and see our diversity as our strength.”

Trustee Claudia Cazares told Slatic that he might understand what the resolution meant if he listened to any of their experiences as people of color in public schools, “what’s been done to us, what’s been said to us in school and outside of school.”

“Thankfully, you haven’t been through the same,” she said. “God is giving you the favor of not being a person of color, and you’ve benefited from that. There’s been a lot of strife in our lives because of the color of our skin. And we want to stop that for our children in this district.”

“This resolution thankfully stops just short of calling it FUSD a racist institution,” Slatic said. “Those attorneys for the district certainly earned their money on this editing job.”

Slatic, who has been censured by the board for his past behavior, and has also been called “abusive” after an argument with a church pastor, said he did not like that the resolution aimed to call out the district, and therefore its employees, as racist.

“FUSD and its tens of thousands of currently retired employees have for decades, come to work every day with the mission of educating our children regardless of their race, their religion, their socio-economic status; and that equal opportunity and colorblind organization, that magnificent history, is not captured in this resolution.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 7:32 AM.