The Iowa City Community Schools (ICCSD) decided to hold school on the Martin Luther King, Jr., federal holiday this year. The Coalition for Racial Justice strongly opposed this decision and asked the school board to honor the MLK Holiday and cancel school on Monday, January 20. The school board decided not to cancel school in 2014; instead, they passed a resolution that ICCSD should not hold school on the holiday in 2015 and beyond. The board also appointed liaisons to the Coalition for Racial Justice and the Center for Worker Justice to improve communication and community representation in future decisions.
While these victories are clear examples of how an engaged community can impact decision making for our schools, we are deeply disappointed that classes will be held on the MLK Holiday this year. Members of our community have traditionally celebrated the holiday in many different ways, which we do not believe was understood or respected by this decision.
School board members said they understood that many families will choose to honor the holiday outside of school, yet students and their families still will be required to follow standard procedures for excusing absences. Given the sacred nature of the holiday for many, students should not be penalized if they attend private and community celebrations that commemorate this day. We are asking the school district to count ALL absences on January 20 as excused, whether or not families call in.
Members of our Coalition will be celebrating the holiday in various ways, both public and private. This flyer has information about several local community events that are free and available to the public. We also are compiling a more complete list of activities on our Facebook page (Coalition for Racial Justice – Iowa City/Johnson County; https://www.facebook.com/RacialJusticeCoalition). Please comment on our Facebook posts with additional events you would like general public to know about!
We also have since learned that Iowa’s Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Reynolds will be presenting our very own Royceann Porter with one of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Awards in Des Moines on January 20!
We look forward to celebrating Dr. King and the many civil rights activists in our own community; we hope to see you later this month or in the comments section below.
Sincerely,
Alecia Brooks and Circe Stumbo on behalf of the Coalition for Racial Justice
P.S. Here is a copy of the original letter we sent to the school board asking them to reconsider their decision to hold school on MLK Day, along with the letter we sent after the board decided not to change course.