Published: March 21, 2008 11:50 am      

BOE, black community discuss mediation sessions in wake of recent racial issues

CUMBERLAND - Members of the area's black community met Wednesday with Bill AuMiller, superintendent of the Allegany County school system, to discuss the possibility of holding a series of mediation sessions to address recent racial tensions among students at Fort Hill High School.

Robin Woods said members of the community have formed a coalition of several organizations. AuMiller requested to meet with the group, called simply Concerned Citizens.

Members of the group's executive board who attended Wednesday included: Norma Blacke Bordeau, president of the Allegany County Chapter of the NAACP; the Rev. Alfred Deas Jr., pastor of Metropolitan AME Church in Cumberland; and Walter Hughson, a friend of the family of three girls who all reported being victims of racially motivated harassment.

The girls, who moved to Cumberland less than two years ago, relocated last week to Washington as tensions continued to rise. All three reported threats while at home. Woods, who spoke on behalf of Concerned Citizens, said the students are getting school work sent to them from Fort Hill.

The mediation sessions, which would bring together students of both sides, would be mediated by Tim Johnson of the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service.

Woods said the program agreed upon by school officials is Student Problem Identification and Resolution of Issues Together (SPIRIT), in which a mediator brings together student groups and initiates discussion to identify problems and a path towards resolution.

Johnson will mediate the discussion groups, but will be joined by selected school staff and administrators who will be trained by Community Relations Service, Daryl Borgquist, a spokesman for CRS, said.

During the sessions, students will be separated into those with similar backgrounds. Then students with a variety of backgrounds will get together.

Borgquist said CRS can request to enter a conflict or be asked to be involved. He said CRS has seen this similar issue rise up in both urban and rural settings across the country. CRS officials worked in Maryland at least twice in 2006, according to the agency's 2006 annual report.

"What we really want to do is just educate the other side what (the Confederate flag) means to us," Woods said.

As for Wednesday's meeting, AuMiller said it was "productive" and said the discussion groups could "be a good, initial first step" to begin determining the root of any problems and developing an action plan to address those problems.

School officials and local police opened a series of discussions with members of the community March 10 when racial tensions flared. A second meeting was held three days later.

Since that meeting, AuMiller said school officials at both Fort Hill High School and the Center for Career and Technical Education have reported a "wonderfully calm" atmosphere with no reported acts of intimidation or harassment.

Woods said the flag is symbolic of "terrorism" to black Americans. He said Concerned Citizens plans to ask the Allegany County Board of Education at the board's April 8 meeting to implement a districtwide ban on the display of the flag. Fort Hill Principal Steve Lewis banned the flag from school grounds when the tensions flared. Before that, though, both Lewis and AuMiller said it was a First Amendment issue.

Concerned Citizens cited Queen Anne's County High School dress code as an example. In that policy, displaying the Confederate flag is prohibited - as is the display of Malcolm X and black power symbols and any other symbol that "attracts an unusual amount of attention away from learning."

Dialogue is expected to continue in a number of forums. Concerned Citizens plans to hold a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Carver Center on Frederick Street.

Parents also will have the chance to speak at a parents advisory council meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday in the library at Allegany High School. Students are encouraged not to attend that meeting, officials said.

A third option, open to all ages, is the next meeting of the Allegany County Chapter of the NAACP, scheduled for 6 p.m. April 3 at the Metropolitan AME Church.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.