Capital Lakefair denied city grant after removing girl with disabilities from scholarship program
A decision by the Capital Lakefair board to exclude a Black Hills High School student with special needs from Lakefair scholarship competition has caused a firestorm in the community, and prompted the Olympia City Council to withhold grant funding from Lakefair for 2023.
Last month, Abba Vandenberg-Flodstrom, a junior from Black Hills in Tumwater, was nominated and chosen to represent her school on the Lakefair Royal Court. But on Jan. 12, her mom, Vanessa Ofte, received a call from the Lakefair board president, ahead of nominee interviews, to say her daughter’s essay for the competition didn’t score high enough.
Ofte said her daughter was discriminated against because of her special needs.
Since the issue was brought to light, mostly through social media, Capital Lakefair’s board issued a letter addressing the situation and Abba was invited back to the competition.
But on Tuesday, Jan. 17, the Olympia City Council discussed the situation and the letter, and they deemed it unsatisfactory. The council voted not to award the nonprofit a $25,000 grant for the year.
Several council members said the letter sent by Lakefair lacked an apology to Abba and any accountability for the situation. Dontae Payne called it a huge misstep for the organization. He said it sends a message to people who are disabled and anyone of a different demographic.
“(Lakefair has) existed since the 1950s, but I can tell you as a Black man I certainly don’t want to be rooted in a tradition from the 1950s,” Payne said. “That doesn’t mean anything to me except for something deeply hurtful, perhaps.”
The nomination
Ofte told The Olympian that when the school called her and said her daughter was nominated to represent her school, she thought it was a big win for children with disabilities. The school district felt the same way, posting about the nomination when it officially happened and calling Abba a “great model for inclusion.” Her essay focused on inclusion for all students, including those with disabilities.
Ofte said before her daughter started the Royal Court process, she called the board to let them know her daughter has a disability. She said she spoke with board president Karen Adams-Griggs, who Ofte said told her that her daughter wouldn’t be allowed any accommodations. She said Adams-Griggs later gave Abba permission to have help.
Then came the call last week, a day after all the nominees had met for the first time. Ofte said Adams-Griggs told her that her daughter’s essay didn’t score high enough to continue with the competition. Ofte was under the impression Abba would have to give a speech in front of the board before the finalists were chosen, but her daughter didn’t get a chance.
Ofte said there were worries Abba wouldn’t move on to the next round in the competition, but that shouldn’t matter.
“Anyone who knows Abba, she’d go to anyone who was picked, give them a giant hug and tell them how proud she was of them, even if she wasn’t,” Ofte said. “She’s just that kind of girl.”
Ofte said she waited until Jan. 16 to tell Abba she was removed from the competition. Abba reacted as expected: she was sad at first and told her mom she wouldn’t get to be in the parade, share her speech or attend a tea party. But then her mother said she said, “OK, well, we’ll get through this,” grabbed her mother’s hands and told her it’s going to be OK.
Then that night, Ofte received a phone call from a Lakefair board member saying they had reinstated Abba’s application. She was told they’d have more information at a later time, and she’s yet to hear from anyone. Another involved parent told Ofte about an upcoming meeting, which Ofte said she and Abba will attend.
Ofte said Abba will have a peer model with her as her accommodation, someone who knows how to work with her and can make sure she’s protected.
Olympia City Council responds
During Tuesday’s meeting of the Olympia City Council, Mayor Cheryl Selby said there’s been a disconnect between the city’s mission, vision and values and those of Capital Lakefair.
“Now, very incomprehensible to me, is that an organization with the word Capital in its name could have drifted so far away from the capital city’s values regarding equity and belonging,” Selby said.
Selby said she recognizes there’s probably plenty the council doesn’t know about the situation. But after having spoken with current and former board members, some who have resigned as recent as this incident, she said she couldn’t endorse the council allocating $25,000 to the organization. The council happened to be discussing Lodging Tax funding allocations for 2023 during the meeting, which included Capital Lakefair.
Selby said she understands the stress nonprofit organizations are facing when it comes to surviving financially. So for the future, she proposed that the council forward a request to the Social Justice and Equity Commission to make recommendations on how to make grant allocations more equitable.
Selby also wants to meet with the Lakefair board alongside city manager Jay Burney and others, to try and find a way to move forward and reflect on the organization’s values.
“Future goodwill for Lakefair needs to be earned,” Selby said. “It needs to be said, I don’t want what we’re talking about tonight to reflect on the other applicants from the other high schools. They’re innocent bystanders in all this. I don’t want their experience being on Lakefair Court to have a shadow over it.”
The Lakefair board has since issued a revised letter to include a more direct apology to Abba and the greater community. One of the updates reads, “This has never been a beauty or popularity contest. The scholarship application requirements and criteria were not intended to exclude. But we realize now, though, that sometimes they do. And we are going to work to correct that.”
Ofte said she didn’t expect the Olympia City Council to respond how it did. She said she was touched by how council members spoke about the effect the situation has had on the community.
“I’m very proud of them for taking the stance they did,” she said. “I don’t think it could have gone any other way.”
Tumwater School District spokesperson Laurie Wiedenmeyer sent a statement to The Olympian saying Abba’s principal, teacher and others appealed Lakefair’s decision to exclude Abba.
“I understand that the (Lakefair) system was not initially set up for students like Abba, but inclusion will never happen for our students if we refuse to adjust when needed,” said Heidi Johnson, Abba’s teacher.
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 2:03 PM.
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