The Boone County Board of Education is responding after a parent, who has since been elected as the board’s minority member, expressed concern about the process for electing a minority parent to the election committee for a new superintendent.
Antoine Smith-Rouse, a parent with five kids enrolled in Boone County Schools, called on the board of education at its March meeting to “stop using inclusivity as a buzzword and start being inclusive in the district.”
The comment came during discussions over an election process to choose a minority parent to serve on the search committee for a new superintendent. Smith-Rouse referred to the election process as tedious and untimely.
“The individuals were sent out an all-call and were told to leave a voicemail. There was no communication that they could run until the day before,” Smith-Rouse said.
But Barbara Brady, Boone County Schools’ community relations coordinator and spokesperson, said that the board had been diligent with their efforts to notify parents properly.
“The first notification was a mass notification on March 1, a social media and an all-call announcement for the minority parent election,” Brady said. “We sent it out by social media for our district, which is Facebook, X and Instagram. We also sent it to our infinite campus messaging service that goes out to all student households by voicemail, text, and email, as well as to our district letter, district newsletter, and website.”
Smith-Rouse also said at the March meeting that he was told the election would not be verified and that it would be taken in “good faith.”
Brady said the board denies that claim.
“We have to check,” Brady said. “We have to go through with each name for each vote. We have to check to make sure that person is a legit parent in the school district. For every parent candidate or nomination, we check our infinite campus.”
At the election, only a small number of parents were in attendance in person. Smith-Rouse suggested the votes be counted on the same day, but was told that other individuals had voted who were not in attendance and that they had to consider those votes.
That’s despite the fact that parents were notified that it was required to be an in-person vote, Smith-Rouse said.
Brady said there was a good reason for this.
“There was a disabled parent who required a wheelchair,” Brady said. “Because of her disability, we were required to allow her to vote earlier in the day.”
The process, Brady said, is the same it has been in the past.
“I don’t know where Mr. Smith-Rouse was four years ago, but we did this four years ago,” Brady said. “We followed the same procedures. I did the notification myself. We have a specific folder with rules in it and how we do it. The state law, in the folder, stated how we have to notify parents. We go out of our way to make sure these notifications go out.”
There has never been a problem with the process in the past, Brady said.
“I’ve done this before,” Brady said. We’ve never had a problem, and all of a sudden we have a problem, and the problem was something that could have been resolved had he contacted me.”