Frances Donahue
Following the advice of the school district’s lawyers, Haldane’s DEI policy was unanimously suspended by the Haldane Board of Education (BOE) on April 22, causing an uproar in the Haldane Community. Two weeks later, on May 6, Haldane abruptly reversed the decision and reinstated the policy. The story behind this about-face makes it clear that even a small school like Haldane is not immune to the uncertainties of the current political moment.
The road to the Haldane DEI policy suspension began on April 3, when the United States Department of Education (USDOE) sent out a memo to all state commissioners of K-12 education threatening federal funding for public schools unless all such schools certify compliance with the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the context of the 2023 Supreme Court decision Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. This interpretation finds DEI policies to be out of compliance with Title VI.
The New York State Education Department (NYSED) immediately responded by refusing the request for certification on legal grounds and refusing to collect certification from New York public schools.
On April 24, the deadline for state certification, three separate federal judges issued rulings that put a hold on the USDOE and the Trump Administration’s ability to suspend federal funding from schools with DEI policies and initiatives. With the imminent threats to funding alleviated, the Haldane BOE reversed the suspension of the DEI policy at its May 6 meeting.
According to Haldane’s Interim Superintendent Carl Albano, the BOE suspension of the policy was in alignment with the advice of Haldane’s legal counsel: Shaw, Perelson, May, and Lambert LLP. In spite of the objections of the NYSED to the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title VI compliance contained in the April 3 certification demand letter, the district’s law firm advised pre-emptively complying. Albano noted that this was in order to, in his words, “play it safe.” He said the advice was meant to strategically anticipate a future attempt “down the road” by the federal government to withhold funding by creating a clear record of certification of compliance in the files of the district office. “They basically [said] they don’t see any real downside to doing it,” Albano said of the attorney’s advice.
According to Albano, Haldane gets around $450,000, about 1.5% of the total school budget, from the federal government. That money largely goes to support Haldane’s special education and free and reduced lunch programs.
In order to protect funding for these programs, the district decided to follow the legal advice, and, according to Albano, a vote to certify was planned for the April 22 Board of Education meeting. But, a day before that meeting, the district’s attorneys sent an addendum to Haldane that then prompted Albano to ask the attorneys to review Haldane’s DEI policy. According to Albano, the attorneys were concerned that some of the language in the DEI policy related to hiring might not comply with the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title VI. Upon reviewing the policy language, the attorney advised Albano to either suspend or get rid of the DEI policy. While Albano was not in support of permanent removal, he said he felt it was prudent to temporarily suspend and thereby allow Haldane to meet the USDOE’s certification deadline while also allowing time for further consideration of the DEI policy. He recommended this to the BOE.
This landscape of conflicting legal opinions–from the Federal Government, the state of New York, and the district’s own lawyers–confronted members of the Haldane Board of Education at their April 22 meeting. Because of the timing of the district attorney’s advice, some board members only learned of the proposed suspension minutes before the vote. While the Haldane BOE voted to temporarily suspend their policy, O’Neill High School, a neighboring school also represented by Shaw, Perelson, May, and Lambert, ultimately decided to remove their DEI Policy entirely.
When asked to explain the Board’s April 22 decision to temporarily suspend the DEI policy, BOE President Peggy Clements said, “I think the notion of unilaterally saying that we’re willing to give up $450,000 without having a chance to discuss it in a meaningful way in an open public meeting would be an irresponsible thing.” However, Clements acknowledged that there was room for improvement in the BOE’s response. “I think I’m fairly speaking for everyone when I say it was such an upsetting thing to have to do that. I don’t think we were at our best in the meeting to explain exactly what we were doing, what our intentions were, and what our next steps were.” If she could do it over again, Clements said the board might still have suspended the policy, but she felt time for additional meetings and more input was needed. She said: “It would have been wise for the board to figure out a way to come together to discuss [the DEI policy], [in order to] present an opportunity for the public to weigh in once the board meets in an open meeting.”
Albano also noted things he’d do differently. He stated, “I should have thought to get to key constituents and explain [the decision] in a more proactive way, instead of them hearing we suspended it and then people getting upset.”
When asked what Haldane is doing to proactively prepare for future threats to funding or future questioning of their DEI policy, Albano said he felt that next time, the school will be bolder in their response. He noted that there are backup plans if Haldane loses federal funding. For example, Haldane has an emergency “fund balance” that could, in the short term, provide the money necessary to continue the programs that utilize federal funds. In the long term, Albano said that the Haldane community would need a “tax override” to increase taxes above the state limit to produce the money necessary. He stated that such a measure would need a 60% supermajority vote from the community. Albano stated that he believed that, when push came to shove, the community would come through. “That 450,000 goes for students who qualify for free lunch [and] for special education students, so those are kids that have high needs.” he said. “I think this community would always come through for them even if it meant a tax override.” This year’s school budget, which included a 2.8% tax levy increase, passed with 79% supporting the increase.
Having completed his interim superintendency, Albano will leave Haldane by July 1, but Clements, whose term as BOE president continues, said she thought that the BOE and the new superintendent would learn from what went wrong this time and prepare for future threats to federal funding. Clements stated: “This summer, we’re going to have a retreat with our new superintendent, and certainly, one of the things we’ll devote time to is considering what we could have done differently.” She continued, “I think we can expect other kinds of demands like this may well come from the [federal] Department of Education, and so we need to be clearer about how we will try to be more proactive and how we’ll try to engage with the community.”
These are unclear and chaotic times for education, and nothing about its future is certain. As Albano stated, “These are really unprecedented times.” Haldane may very well be tested again.