Ferndale school levy moving forward, despite campaign group’s ‘insensitive’ post
A Facebook post supporting a school levy made Tuesday by an independent, citizen-led group that works with the Ferndale School District to promote the district’s needs, ignited a social media firestorm of criticism for being insensitive to students from the Lummi Nation.
The campaign group and the school district have each issued apologies, and Support Ferndale Schools announced Thursday that the author of the post has resigned.
Ferndale Schools Superintendent Linda Quinn also told The Bellingham Herald Thursday that the district still plans to put the levy before voters in April, calling the funding “absolutely essential to our students.”
The post, which was made by the group Support Ferndale Schools and has since been removed, included the slogan “culturally relevant education.”
On Wednesday, the group made an apology on its Facebook page, calling the initial post “a mistake that caused significant hurt to some of our friends and neighbors.”
“A member of our campaign created and posted a message yesterday that was insensitive and wrong,” the post went on to say.
Wednesday’s post also highlighted that Support Ferndale Schools is a volunteer group and not associated with the district and that the group was listening and using community feedback to determine its next step.
“Please know we are so very sorry,” the post read. “While we are aware that hurtful words once spoken cannot be retracted, we commit to doing everything we can do to heal the pain caused by this mistake.”
Comments in response to Wednesday’s post continued to call out the initial post as “racism,” “insensitive,” “flippant,” “bigoted,” “prejudiced,” hurtful” and “unproductive.” Many comments also called for more action by the group.
In a follow-up statement sent to The Bellingham Herald Thursday, Support Ferndale Schools announced the member who made the post had resigned.
“We know that words of apology are not enough. ... There is no excuse for the post that was made, and while it does not reflect the opinions of our committee, we take responsibility for it and apologize. We will also seek to meet in person with Lummi Nation tribal leaders to apologize,” the Support Ferndale Schools statement went on to say.
The group also said it will continue its efforts to advocate for school funding.
Lummi Nation response
The Lummi Indian Business Council released a statement through its Facebook page in response to Tuesday’s post, saying, “Ignorance and positions of privilege is something we deal with on a daily basis.”
The council’s response went on to say that as leaders, it is their responsibility to educate groups that they work with. The council also stated that it would hold the committee responsible for the pain caused to the Lummi community.
“This statement by the levy committee was a poor example of leadership,” the Lummi response stated.
The statement also addressed Lummi children, stating, “You are productive, contributing members of our society. We have an infinite amount of value that we place on each and every one of you.”
Lummi Indian Business Council spokesperson Tony Hillaire told The Bellingham Herald in an email Thursday that the council still supports the levy and doesn’t want to create division between the Lummi and Ferndale.
“We want to move forward to healing with our community and with the levy committee and Ferndale School District,” Hillaire wrote.
Ferndale School District response
The Ferndale School District also took to Facebook Wednesday to respond, acknowledging that though the district was not involved in the Support Ferndale Schools post, it reflected badly on the district and its efforts.
“We are embarrassed and sad that this message was posted as we are aware that the message has caused great pain,” the district’s post read. “The District is asking for guidance from Lummi Nation leaders. We are committed to abiding by that guidance and this conversation will continue.”
Quinn told The Herald that the district saw the post first thing Tuesday morning and immediately asked that it be taken down, “but by then it was all over and had been shared.”
Quinn reiterated that the initial post by the campaign group in no way reflected the value of the school district, adding that one of the district’s core strategies is to “honor and celebrate diversity and make sure all students feel welcome.”
Since the post was made, Quinn said the district has reached out and listened to Lummi friends, leaders and colleagues to learn what they can do to begin repairing the damage done and move forward. The district also published a statement Thursday “reaffirming our values” on its website.
The Ferndale levy
The Ferndale School District is asking voters to approve an operations levy in an April 28 special election that will ask for the 2020 rate of $2.17 for 2021 and 2022, according to a district release on Feb. 26. The measure needs a simple majority to pass.
The request was made weeks after voters rejected the previous operations levy that asked for $2.50 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value for four years. Ferndale’s was the only levy request to fail in Whatcom County.
Quinn said the district and campaign group met for approximately three hours Wednesday evening and decided to move forward with the levy campaign.
The campaign group also has put in place a plan to make sure all future posts are vetted and approved before they are released.
“We only have one shot to present our case to voters,” Quinn told The Herald. “The district and the campaign committee decided we needed to move forward with the levy.
“It’s just hard all the way around. We are hoping this can be a learning experience. The committee is committed to working hard to get this funding that is essential to our kids.”
