Educator's Black Lives Matter Email Upends Her District

CENTREVILLE, Md. — When Andrea Kane sat down to constitute a letter to parents successful her schoolhouse territory days aft George Floyd’s decease successful 2020, images of the Black antheral pleading for his beingness nether the genu of a achromatic Minnesota constabulary serviceman were haunting her.

Dr. Kane, the superintendent, saw him successful the faces of Black students successful her territory and heard him crying retired for his parent erstwhile she spoke to her ain sons. So she started her missive with a informing that it would carnivore not conscionable “good news,” but “a spot of a world check.”

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the high-performing territory connected the Eastern Shore of Maryland had closed retired the twelvemonth with overmuch to beryllium arrogant of. But similar the remainder of the country, Dr. Kane said, the assemblage had different situation to confront.

“Racism is live successful our country, our state, successful Queen Anne’s County, and our schools,” she wrote successful the letter, emailed to the parents of each 7,700 students successful the district.

Her connection mirrored hundreds that superintendents crossed the state had issued successful the aftermath of Mr. Floyd’s decease and the wide protests that followed. Many of the educators took the accidental to renew their committedness to radical justness successful their schools.

But the connection from Dr. Kane, the archetypal Black superintendent of Queen Anne’s County Public Schools, would engulf the small, predominantly achromatic assemblage tucked on the Chesapeake Bay successful a yearlong firestorm.

“When I deed send,” Dr. Kane recalled recently, “everything conscionable imploded.”

Over the past year, the protests and reflection prompted by Mr. Floyd’s decease reverberated successful schoolhouse districts passim the country, arsenic schoolhouse boards and legislatures reconsidered however and what students should larn astir contention and racism, from the past of slavery and segregation to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Superintendents are feeling the brunt of the backlash. Some person been threatened, harassed and fired implicit accusations they are seeking to “indoctrinate” children done books, past lessons and equity policies, said Daniel A. Domenech, president of the AASA, the School Superintendents Association, which represents astir 14,000 territory leaders crossed the country.

For Black educators successful particular, the absorption has felt personal and poignant. Only 2 percent of the nation’s superintendents are Black, according to the AASA’s latest count, and galore are expecting that fig to shrink.

Michael D. McFarland, president of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, said that galore African American schoolhouse administrators are already unfairly branded arsenic activists, and scrutinized for immoderate perceived misstep.

Particularly successful majority-white communities, Dr. McFarland said, “it’s harder for you to bash the enactment that you were hired to do” arsenic a superintendent, “let unsocial instrumentality stances connected equity and societal justness issues.”

“To instrumentality those stances comes astatine an tremendous cost,” helium added.

Dr. Kane thought agelong and hard astir the outgo of staying silent.

With each of this successful mind, she agonized implicit each connection of the missive she wrote connected June 5, 2020.

“When I accidental ‘Black Lives Matter,’ it is not meant to disparage immoderate different race,” she wrote. “It is an acknowledgment of the disparate brutality and overt racism that is lone experienced by Black radical successful America, including me.”

A Spark Spreads connected Facebook

Dr. Kane’s inbox swelled successful the days that followed, overwhelmingly with responses of gratitude and support. But a period later, an email appeared with the taxable enactment “Urgent Attention Required.”

Dr. Kane recognized the sanction of the genitor who had sent it: Gordana Schifanelli. A fewer weeks before, idiosyncratic had alerted the superintendent to Kent Island Patriots, a caller Facebook radical that Ms. Schifanelli had created, its sanction a notation to a portion of the county. Members of the radical had been raging astir her letter.

In a June 16 station to the group, according to a screenshot provided to The New York Times, Ms. Schifanelli declared: “Dr. Kane successful QAC needs to extremity her declaration and go! People successful this radical indispensable telephone and marque it large and wide that the schoolhouse indispensable stay apolitical and her missive to parents promoting Black Lives Matter is not going to beryllium tolerated.”

The station went on: “The children indispensable cognize that those individuals who died successful constabulary custody were criminals — not heroes! Our children volition not beryllium indoctrinated by anyone’s governmental sentiment successful the schoolhouse and our children indispensable NEVER consciousness that their achromatic tegument colour marque them blameworthy of slavery oregon racism!”

By the clip Ms. Schifanelli wrote straight to Dr. Kane connected July 6, the Facebook radical had grown to 2,000 members.

In her letter, Ms. Schifanelli said she had mislaid assurance successful Dr. Kane’s quality to pb the district. Describing herself arsenic “an migrant to this country,” Ms. Schifanelli added, “I americium a surviving illustration of the precise American imagination you managed to tarnish by your racist comments.”

Over astir 3 years connected the job, she had collected evidence of systemic and overt racism successful the semirural, blimpish county, wherever lone 6 percent of the pupil assemblage is Black. She knew that Black students regularly heard the N-word utilized successful the county’s schools, that they were underserved and overdisciplined.

Under her leadership, the territory began breaking down information to scrutinize gaping accomplishment gaps betwixt Black and achromatic students. It besides contracted with firms focused connected equity work, including helping schoolhouse unit physique affirmative relationships wrong divers pupil populations and expanding students’ entree to world opportunities similar precocious courses.

Tynay Wright, past a elder astatine Kent Island High School, was encouraged by the parts of Dr. Kane’s end-of-school-year missive that praised “white and Black radical for coming unneurotic successful nonviolent protests” and that urged the assemblage to “listen much and walk judgement less.”

Ms. Wright asked for Dr. Kane’s enactment aft Mr. Floyd’s decease successful organizing events that would bring the nationalist reckoning to Queen Anne’s County.

The superintendent attended a protestation that Ms. Wright organized successful aboriginal July. She besides granted the young woman’s petition to invitation a section enactment called Students Talking About Race, oregon STAR, to facilitate voluntary discussions implicit the summer. The radical had been conducting akin events successful neighboring counties.

Ms. Wright said Dr. Kane’s enactment gave her an accidental seldom afforded to Black students successful Queen Anne’s County: “I got to usage my voice.”

Through the remainder of the summer, tensions escalated. The Kent Island Patriots, incensed by Dr. Kane’s enactment of the events Ms. Wright had planned, circulated a petition to person Dr. Kane fired. A quasi-governmental assemblage radical called the Sunday Supper Committee — a predominantly achromatic radical of region residents that had been holding conversations astir racism and equity since 2016 — created a petition successful enactment of Dr. Kane.

“We precise proudly stood down her erstwhile she said Black Lives Matter, due to the fact that that’s thing that we had believed in,” Mary Ella Jourdak, a subordinate of the Sunday Supper Committee, said of Dr. Kane. “And we thought it was important coming from a Black assemblage leader.”

In August, a rally successful enactment of Dr. Kane drew much than 100 residents and supporters, including members of civilian rights groups from crossed the state.

Dr. Kane thought the show of support would drown retired the furor — until she saw much posts from the Kent Island Patriots Facebook radical that summer. According to screen shots made nationalist connected societal media, and others provided to The Times, commenters utilized the N-word. One station called Black radical “animals.” A meme mocked Black men who had been killed by the constabulary with the words: “I caint breave.” One commenter posted a representation of a fabric tract with the words “Free BLM shirts. Some assembly required.”

Ms. Schifanelli declined to beryllium interviewed for this article. In an emailed statement, she said: “As an migrant to this state who recovered emotion and bid among radical of each races, backgrounds and beliefs, I recovered governmental activism successful nationalist schools abhorrent and contrary to the champion involvement of the children successful my community, authorities and the full nation.”

Her lawyer and husband, Marc Schifanelli, sent a screenshot of a Facebook station successful which Ms. Schifanelli said she was “horrified” by racist comments connected the Kent Island Patriots leafage and threatened to region the radical members who wrote them.

Mr. Schifanelli besides denied that Ms. Schifanelli’s protests of Dr. Kane had thing to bash with her race. In interviews with blimpish media outlets, Ms. Schifanelli, who is simply a lawyer and an adjunct prof astatine the United States Naval Academy, has pointed to her acquisition increasing up successful Yugoslavia arsenic a motivating force.

“I was 1 of those children who grew up successful a communist country,” she told the host of a blimpish podcast, “and I had the communists coming to my precocious schoolhouse and pulling maine retired of the schoolroom to articulation their Marxist organization, and I didn’t privation to go.”

She said the Kent Island Patriots’ movement was spreading to neighboring counties. “We conscionable privation communal consciousness back, and we’re taking our state back,” she said.

‘Heartbreaking’ Attacks by Parents

Christine Betley was among the archetypal teachers successful the territory to talk up erstwhile she saw the increasing discord successful the community, sending a missive to the schoolhouse committee successful enactment of Dr. Kane’s efforts. She had moved to the region successful 2019, and was blindsided by the hostility toward the superintendent.

Known arsenic the passageway to Maryland’s beaches, the region has a past steeped successful the sportfishing and agriculture industries. It is 1 of the state’s past blimpish strongholds: More than 60 percent of its voters supported Donald J. Trump successful the past 2 statesmanlike elections. But the idyllic, laid-back beingness connected the h2o has progressively drawn progressives.

Ms. Betley said past summertime was a “real eye-opener” to however “the extent of the disparity betwixt achromatic and Black and brownish students was concealed successful predominant culture.”

“I didn’t recognize determination was determination was a operation that intended to support it that way,” she added.

A Facebook radical that Ms. Betley and different teachers had joined to pass astir the pandemic rapidly became a level for defending Dr. Kane’s enactment of the STAR discussions.

The teachers’ posts, which expressed alarm that possibly an extracurricular achromatic supremacist radical had infiltrated the county, caught the attraction of the Kent Island Patriots. On the group’s page, Ms. Schifanelli posted the teachers’ names and discussions, accusing them of supporting “political brainwashing of our children by utilizing race.”

What followed — weeks of online harassment — was devastating for Gina Crook, a fifth-grade teacher. She was a Queen Anne’s County native, the girl of a Chesapeake Bay waterman. She had attended the county’s schools and had go a fashionable educator, adjacent a 2020 finalist for teacher of the year.

“I saw immoderate of the names successful the group, and thought, ‘There are radical whose children I person loved and guided and fixed my champion to connected present attacking me,’” she said of the Kent Island Patriots. “It was conscionable heartbreaking.”

By autumn 2020, Ms. Schifanelli had been banned from Facebook. She sued some Ms. Jourdak and Ms. Betley, accusing them of defaming her successful their enactment for Dr. Kane.

Around that time, Dr. Kane received connection that the Patriots were readying a write-in run to instrumentality 3 of the 5 seats connected the schoolhouse committee successful November. Included successful their slate of “Patriot candidates” was Marc Schifanelli, Ms. Schifanelli’s husband.

“That’s erstwhile I knew determination was a agelong game,” Dr. Kane said, “one I didn’t privation to play and could not win.”

A Superintendent With a Mission

Dr. Kane ne'er dwelled overmuch connected being the county’s archetypal Black superintendent. She did, however, interest astir the anticipation of being the last.

“I knew arsenic a Black woman, it wasn’t capable to beryllium bully astatine my job,” she said. “I had to beryllium excellent.”

Born and raised successful West Baltimore, Dr. Kane, 56, had wanted to beryllium a teacher ever since she served arsenic a teacher’s adjunct successful Sunday school. But she wanted to marque her parents arrogant by securing a occupation that paid arsenic overmuch arsenic they had for her assemblage education. She majored successful economics and did good for herself arsenic a slope manager but wanted to prosecute what she loved. In 1996, she took a occupation arsenic a substitute successful the Anne Arundel County Public Schools, a territory adjacent to Queen Anne’s, portion she pursued her teaching certificate.

Over the adjacent mates of decades, Dr. Kane worked her mode done the ranks of the schoolhouse system, from teacher to main to adjunct superintendent, and earned her doctorate successful 2016. She took the apical occupation successful Queen Anne’s County aft spending respective years arsenic an subordinate superintendent successful Richmond, Va. She, and the committee that hired her, believed her way grounds overseeing hundreds of schools and raising accomplishment for students from each backgrounds had prepared her.

“I understood what immoderate of the needs were, and 1 of them was that equity needed to beryllium solidly introduced and carried through,” she said. “I went determination due to the fact that I felt similar determination was enactment for maine to do.”

She knew the Eastern Shore’s history: It was wherever the abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were calved into slavery.

She besides knew the territory had struggled with racism successful schools. Her predecessor, Gregory J. Pilewski, wrote to parents successful May 2017 — conscionable weeks earlier her accomplishment — astir a drawstring of what helium called “racially motivated incidents.”

Dr. Pilewski outlined a bid of efforts the territory was taking to code contention and equity issues, including contracting with taste proficiency experts and hosting a bid of “conversations connected race” with the Sunday Supper Committee.

“I didn’t get immoderate pushback,” Dr. Pilewski, who is achromatic and is present a superintendent successful Arkansas, said successful an interview. “I got feedback from radical saying, ‘It’s astir clip idiosyncratic started drafting attraction to this.’”

Dr. Kane was ne'er naïve capable to deliberation her occupation would beryllium easy. On the time she signed her declaration successful 2017, a achromatic schoolhouse committee subordinate refused to talk to her.

It was 1 of galore hostile interactions she had with achromatic committee members during her tenure. In January, she filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ailment against the Queen Anne’s County schoolhouse committee detailing incidents dating backmost to 2018, saying she had been subjected to a hostile and discriminatory enactment environment.

In 1 instance, a erstwhile committee president, a achromatic woman, sent her a profane substance connection utilizing the F-word erstwhile she asked to acceptable up a clip to spell implicit paperwork, the ailment said. Months later, the aforesaid committee subordinate admitted to defacing a photograph of a Black teacher of the twelvemonth successful the territory office by drafting horns, a mustache and a goatee connected it.

Richard A. Smith, who was appointed to an unfastened spot connected the schoolhouse committee successful 2019 and is presently its president, declined to remark connected the complaint, which besides claimed that helium and different committee members failed to enactment her aft her June 2020 letter.

In an interview, helium said the committee had not sought to “derail” Dr. Kane. He called her a “professional,” and her contention “irrelevant.”

But Mr. Smith, a Queen Anne’s County autochthonal and section concern owner, said helium was offended by Dr. Kane’s characterization of the county. He has devoted much than a decennary to nationalist service, including a erstwhile stint connected the schoolhouse committee successful the 1990s, and takes heavy pridefulness successful his assemblage — particularly its schoolhouse system, which attracts families from crossed the authorities and which his grandchildren attend. It has educated respective generations of his family, starting with his grandparents, who graduated from precocious schoolhouse determination successful the aboriginal 1900s; helium precocious attended his 50th precocious schoolhouse reunion.

“We bash not person a racist county,” Mr. Smith said. “We bash not person a racist board.”

He noted that the committee issued a statement successful August 2020 expressing enactment for Dr. Kane’s efforts. But helium besides agreed with immoderate of the disapproval leveled against her.

He described what happened to Mr. Floyd arsenic “appalling,” but said that helium was besides amazed by Dr. Kane’s email. She was wrong her close to nonstop it without the board’s permission, helium added, but the assemblage was already connected borderline implicit schoolhouse closures during the pandemic.

“I’m oriented to what’s going connected successful the nation, but similar a batch of radical here, I attraction astir Queen Anne’s County,” Mr. Smith said. “I conscionable don’t cognize if it was the due clip to enactment that in, with everything other similar Covid going on. It was precise disruptive.”

‘They Made Me Feel Subhuman’

A fewer weeks into the 2020-21 schoolhouse year, the contention was taking its toll connected Dr. Kane.

During a tense committee gathering successful October, successful which the members sought to bounds her authorization to walk coronavirus alleviation funding, she walked out.

It was the archetypal clip galore had seen the superintendent suffer her composure. “I could archer astatine that infinitesimal that she had wholly chopped ties with the community,” recalled Ms. Crook, who was watching the gathering virtually. “And who could blasted her?”

Two days later, Dr. Kane went connected sick leave.

To this day, it is hard for her to picture her intelligence and carnal authorities astatine the time. Sleep eluded her, and she recovered herself looking implicit her enarthrosis astatine the state presumption and the market store. Fearing for her safety, she moved retired of the county.

She compares it to stepping extracurricular her body, and backmost centuries to a clip erstwhile the county’s residents sold enslaved radical extracurricular the courthouse.

“Talk astir susceptible — they made maine consciousness subhuman,” she said of the committee and the Kent Island Patriots. “They hung maine retired and stripped maine bare.”

When she returned to enactment successful December, the Patriots’ slate had won predetermination and controlled the five-member schoolhouse board. Mr. Schifanelli would beryllium elected vice president.

At her first gathering with the caller board, connected Jan. 6, Dr. Kane delivered a fiery speech, proclaiming that her “resolve to combat racism successful Queen Anne’s County Public Schools is stronger than ever.”

She announced that she had restored contracts the committee had moved to dissolve successful her absence, including 1 with the equity steadfast the territory had hired to assistance adjacent accomplishment gaps. The region schools, she said, would “once again prosecute successful practices centered connected diversity, equity and antiracism.”

It was seconds aft she uttered 3 words successful her remarks — Black Lives Matter — that Dr. Kane had her archetypal public face-off with Mr. Schifanelli, who interrupted her.

“I’m consenting to perceive to your diatribe here,” helium said, “but I bash not similar the information that you’re bringing successful a governmental enactment into this nationalist hearing, and I would inquire you kindly to stop.”

“Thank you,” she said, and continued.

For many, it was a infinitesimal that demonstrated the powerfulness of Dr. Kane’s beingness successful the district.

Several Black natives of the region tin picture successful vivid presumption however racism has touched each procreation of their families. Many constituent to it arsenic the crushed that the Black colonisation withered to 6.3 percent successful 2010 from 26.9 percent successful 1960.

“What we person beauteous overmuch taught astir of our children is you bash everything you tin bash to postgraduate and spell elsewhere,” said Tory Brown, a Black Queen Anne’s County native, who is an instructional adjunct successful the schoolhouse system, a assemblage advocator and a protagonist of Dr. Kane.

The archetypal clip Mr. Brown experienced racism successful the Queen Anne’s County schoolhouse territory was 25 years agone erstwhile helium was successful sixth grade, helium said. He was called “a slave” and told to “go backmost to Africa.” In 2006, his parents received a decease menace and recovered a noose successful their mailbox. Ten years later, his young niece was called the N-word arsenic she walked down the street.

Ms. Wright, the pupil whose efforts Dr. Kane championed successful the summertime of 2020, vividly remembers erstwhile Dr. Kane, the archetypal head with her complexion, walked into her people successful ninth grade. It was arsenic almighty a representation arsenic when, arsenic a kindergartner, she was told by her achromatic classmates that she couldn’t play connected a definite portion of the playground “because she looked similar Martin Luther King Jr.”

“She made maine consciousness similar I could bash anything,” Ms. Wright said. “If her beingness tin determination a room, and shingle an atmosphere, ideate what her powerfulness could cause. I deliberation they were frightened of the alteration that was going to hap conscionable from her being here.”

The ‘Patriot’ Slate Takes Over

By this spring, Dr. Kane had announced she was leaving the district, and the hunt for a caller superintendent was underway.

But Ms. Schifanelli took her connection to Fox News, representing a constituent of presumption that was resonating crossed the state arsenic a backlash against captious contention mentation ramped up.

“There is nary systemic racism against anyone successful our nationalist schools, and we cannot marque 1 up conscionable due to the fact that it is politically fashionable astatine the moment,” she told the host.

Immediately aft the appearance, hatred message began pouring into Dr. Kane’s inbox from adjacent and far.

“As agelong arsenic determination are woke Democrats specified arsenic yourself successful our society, determination volition beryllium racism,” wrote a nonmigratory of Centreville, the region seat, who said his children attended section schools.

An all-caps email — traced by the sheriff’s bureau to a 64-year-old achromatic antheral from Kansas — utilized a racist slur against Dr. Kane.

And for the adjacent respective weeks, Dr. Kane watched arsenic the Kent Island Patriots’ level began to alteration policy.

At a board meeting successful aboriginal May, Mr. Schifanelli projected last-minute changes to an equity argumentation — the territory was required to person 1 nether authorities instrumentality — that had been successful the works for 2 years.

He projected to destruct definitions specified arsenic “social identifiers,” “cultural responsiveness” and “implicit bias,” and to scrub the argumentation of words specified arsenic “systemic” and “institutional.” In the aforesaid meeting, Mr. Schifanelli, an migration lawyer, besides garnered capable votes to region a book from the mediate schoolhouse program due to the fact that it was sympathetic to a lad whose begetter faced deportation.

“They wanted to erase everything but the achromatic experience,” Dr. Kane said, “and that’s what they did.”

Mr. Smith supported the changes. He was 1 of the 3 candidates supported by the Kent Island Patriots, but maintained that helium backed Mr. Schifanelli’s measures based connected his ain beliefs.

“I don’t look astatine Black students oregon African American students immoderate antithetic than I look astatine Latinos, mixed race, Asians oregon whatever,” helium said. “Everybody needs to beryllium treated reasonably and equally.”

Asked if helium had ever talked to Black students astir whether they were treated arsenic successful school, helium sighed. “Probably not arsenic overmuch arsenic I could,” helium said.

Tears and Thunder

One time successful June, astir precisely a twelvemonth aft Dr. Kane had written the email, her dependable roseate supra a rumble of thunder arsenic she addressed a assemblage extracurricular the Kennard African American Cultural Heritage Center, named for Lucretia Kennard, the county’s archetypal “supervisor of colored schools.”

One of the archetypal events held astatine the center, which had educated the county’s Black students during segregation, had been to invited Dr. Kane. On this day, she was saying goodbye.

“There’s immoderate sound retired there, and it’s an evil noise,” Dr. Kane told the group. “Give it immoderate time; evil volition devour itself. Any clip we fto children explicit who they are, and acceptable examples for them astir what is right, we can’t spell wrong.”

Despite her challenges, the territory had celebrated its archetypal National Blue Ribbon schoolhouse during her tenure, maintained its apical ranking successful graduation rates for 2 years and had offered its archetypal African American studies course.

The lawsuit was billed arsenic a solemnisation of her accomplishments but felt much similar a ceremonial — with a program, prayers, dinner, tearful testimonies, gospel hymnals and an overwhelming consciousness of loss.

“It’s not just for small Black girls to spot radical similar america travel successful and beryllium truthful powerful, and spot them taken distant — it does thing to us, mentally,” said Ms. Wright, who precocious started assemblage astatine Lincoln University, a historically Black instauration successful Pennsylvania.

Ms. Betley was preparing to commencement a caller occupation successful the district: equity teacher specialist. “This full happening has made my relation adjacent much important,” she said, “but connected a idiosyncratic level, I’m terrified.”

Over the summer, the committee moved to reverse Dr. Kane’s actions. The head she had fired for making racist statements was rehired, and the watered-down equity argumentation passed unanimously.

This summer, Ms. Schifanelli spoke astatine events recounting her yearlong conflict with Dr. Kane and her supporters. At an August rally for a Republican candidate successful the Maryland governor’s race, she boasted astir however the Kent Island Patriots’ schoolhouse committee write-in run “had 12,000 radical lasting beardown against captious contention mentation successful nationalist schools.” Last month, that candidate, a Maryland authorities lawmaker, chose Ms. Schifanelli arsenic his moving mate. The pursuing week, Facebook banned the Kent Island Patriots group, citing its standards connected “dangerous individuals and organizations.”

Dr. Kane is present a prof of signifier astatine the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, grooming the adjacent procreation of superintendents.

As she prepared to permission the county’s cardinal bureau for the past clip successful June, she held a vase of flowers successful 1 limb and embraced her successor with the other. She told the caller superintendent, a achromatic pistillate the committee hired from different Eastern Shore district, that she was a telephone telephone away. Before walking retired of the building, she adjusted the disguise connected her face, which was emblazoned with the words Black Lives Matter.