Powhatan County School Board approves policy changes regarding racism, hate speech in schools

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect the specific policy changes accurately.

POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The Powhatan County School Board approved policy changes aimed at addressing racism and other forms of hate speech within county schools Tuesday night.

At a scheduled meeting on Tuesday, June 18, the school board approved proposed policy changes relating to student conduct, including how hate speech is defined and how hate speech is to be disciplined.

Community members have been outspoken about discrimination in the school division for quite some time. This most recent push followed an incident where a slur for Black people was written on a Powhatan High School student’s arm .

With these new changes to school policy, the use of slurs in middle and high schools can now be considered a Level 5 offense on a five-tier scale that evaluates student conduct — use of slurs can still be considered Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4 depending on the circumstances, as before.

The discipline for such discriminatory behavior could now include talks with the superintendent and other disciplinary action such as long-term suspension, alternative placement or expulsion.

The Powhatan County branch of the NAACP previously spoke out advocating for such policy changes.

“Proposed definitions for hate speech were removed, as were two uses of the word ‘equitable’ in the description of a safe school environment on page 2 of the Students Rights and Responsibilities,” a representative from the NAACP told 8News Wednesday night.

8News attended the Tuesday night meeting and will provide more details on the reception to these new policies when possible.

This is a developing story, stay with 8News for updates.

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