Reed deserves a chance to make a meaningful contribution on the Olympia School Board

From the tenor of the debate at a recent Olympia School Board meeting, you would think that the appointment of Talauna Reed to fill a vacant seat on the board was either a catastrophe or a Christmas blessing.

Here’s the case for catastrophe: Reed said terrible, angry things about the police following the murder of George Floyd, and called for civil disorder. She has a criminal record for multiple thefts, an assault, and other violations. She was a persistent critic of the police department’s response to the mysterious death of her aunt. She refused to believe the conclusions of their investigation, and rallied others to confrontational encounters with the city council.

And here’s the case for a blessing: Reed is the Board’s first-ever Black member. She is an articulate and passionate advocate for racial justice. For the past two years, she been the Lead Outreach and Advocacy Navigator for a nonprofit that serves people who are homeless. She’s a certified peer counselor who leads training in cultural diversity, de-escalation, restorative justice models, anti-racism and trauma-informed care. She is the mother of twins, both recent graduates from Olympia schools who are now in college.

It’s no surprise that Reed was a controversial choice for this appointment. Nor is it a surprise that the School Board would look to her for the kind of expertise that only comes from lived experience. The board is trying to craft and implement policies capable of undoing the inequities baked into the school district’s traditions and practices.

Sadly, it’s also no surprise that Fox News would latch onto this controversy, or that others on the far right would seize the moment to polarize the public about the board’s choice. The controversy even crossed the Atlantic and showed up in a British tabloid.

We recommend refusing to be polarized.

Reed has certainly said and done some shocking things, and deeply offended a lot of people, especially Olympia staff, police and council members who were the targets of her anger about the death of her aunt. Her record, however, should not preclude recognition that people grow and mature — including passionate and justice-loving people.

Reed deserves a chance to make a meaningful contribution on the school board. She will have a opportunity to prove that she’s ready to move from confrontation to collaboration, reaction to action, from epithets to civility, and from being an outsider to an insider in local governance.

She was impressive in the board’s interview process. She had done her homework about the equity policy process and the district’s policies. She had specific ideas for improvements. She also challenged the board to think bigger. Her own life and her work with homeless and poor people, she said, led her to call for helping “the adults kids depend on,” and moving beyond “no child left behind” to “no family left behind.” That is a bold and challenging agenda.

Reed also has a refreshing clarity of mind about systematically identifying and removing barriers to all students’ access to education and success.

We hope she will galvanize the School Board and the district’s leaders into faster, deeper progress on overcoming its long history of racial inequity and upper middle class sensibility. She may find serving on the generally slow-moving Olympia School Board a test of her patience; other School Board members may find her sense of urgency for change a test of their patience.

The board did the right thing by choosing her. This is a risk worth taking, and the potential benefits outweigh any downside.

Her initial appointment is for just over a year. She will have to run for election in 2023, so if this doesn’t go well, there’s a remedy at the ballot box next November. And if it does go well, it could be a welcome turning point in the long, slow and uneven struggle for equity in Olympia schools.