Olympia School District appoints new board director with history of anti-police statements
The Olympia School District board of directors appointed divisive public figure Talauna Reed to a director vacancy on the school board Oct. 13.
Reed ran for an Olympia City Council position in 2021 and gained widespread attention in July 2021 at an event where she said, “F*** the police” and that Olympia residents should “tear everything up in this f****** city” until people pay attention to them.
Reed lost to Lisa Parshley in the general election Nov. 2, 2021. During her campaign she was affiliated with an organization called Olympia Showing up for Racial Justice and another called Black Leaders in Action and Solidarity Thurston. Reed is often described as a community organizer and activist.
In 2020, the Olympia YWCA named her a 2020 Womnx of Achievement, noting in the announcement that “her core focus is anti-racism.” In the news of her appointment, OSD notes that Reed is currently the Lead Outreach and Advocacy Navigator at local nonprofit Interfaith Works.
Along with student representation, the school board comprises five board members voted in under four-year terms. The vacancy filled by Reed was formerly held by former board vice president Justin McKaughan, who tendered his resignation during a board meeting on June 9. Darcy Huffman, who represents District 3, replaced McKaughan as vice president.
Reed will be sworn in during the next board meeting on Oct. 27 and will fill the District 2 board director position.
Board member candidates filling vacancies between elections are not required to be voted in, but instead go through a round of interviews with the school board.
The Olympia School District board announced in the final minutes of a regular board meeting on Oct. 13 that, after two rounds of interviews and a performance task, they had appointed Reed to the position left vacant by McKaughan. They noted that they are “looking forward” to working with her.
The Olympian reached out to Reed as well as Olympia School Board president Maria Flores and vice president Huffman for comment multiple times on the special appointment, but received no response by the time of publication.
During the same event in which Reed encouraged attendees to “tear everything up” in 2021, she also mentioned the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Yvonne McDonald and said that “both Black women were murdered” by the police.
Taylor was shot and killed by a police officer in Kentucky in March 2020 during a raid on her apartment. No officers have been charged with the shooting, but four current and former officers were charged with civil rights violations, and one former police detective pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.
McDonald was Reed’s aunt and died in August 2018 after being found in front of the lawn of a vacant home with her shirt undone and pants and underwear down. The coroner’s report listed her cause of death as blunt force trauma to the abdomen, with complications with alcohol also contributing to her death.
The manner of her death was listed as undetermined, but police say they found no evidence of a crime, according to previous reporting by The Olympian. A pathologist determined that she was not raped, sexually assaulted or hit by a vehicle.
“I believe they (the police) know something,” Reed said shortly after McDonald’s death at a march through downtown Olympia. “They’re totally cutting us off and protecting their employee.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated on 10/20 with additional information about Talauna Reed’s background and professional affiliations.
This story was originally published October 19, 2022 at 10:22 AM.
