An Open Letter on Accountability, Racial Dignity, and Leadership in Durham Public Schools

We, the undersigned community members, educators, parents, clergy, and stakeholders of Durham Public Schools, write in response to the conduct displayed during the recent Meet and Confer session between district leadership and the Durham Association of Educators.

During that public governance meeting, the Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, Dr. Lewis, was deliberately addressed by his first name while engaged in official district business. This was not a casual exchange. It occurred in a structured, formal setting concerning district policy and labor relations.

Titles in such spaces are not ceremonial. They reflect earned leadership, professional authority, and the dignity of the office entrusted with serving every child in our district.

This incident cannot be separated from historical context. In our country, the refusal to address Black men in positions of authority with appropriate honorifics has long functioned as a mechanism of racial diminishment. That history carries weight. It shapes how actions are received today.

We are not asserting personal animus. We are naming impact.

When a white woman in a position of institutional influence publicly addresses a Black superintendent by his first name in a contentious professional exchange, many in our community experience that not as minor informality but as participation in a broader pattern that undermines Black leadership. Community members have expressed that they received the exchange as racialized. That response must be taken seriously.

What occurred was not simply a breach of etiquette. It caused serious harm and eroded trust.

For these reasons, we call upon the leadership of the Durham Association of Educators, including its president, Mika Twietmeyer, to issue a public apology to Dr. Lewis and to the Durham Public Schools community.

Further, given the seriousness of this harm, the erosion of trust that has followed, and recognizing that many in our community have already called for her resignation, we believe that Ms. Twietmeyer’s resignation is necessary to restore credibility and collaboration within the Durham Public Schools community.

At the same time, this incident cannot be treated as isolated. It reflects broader concerns about how race, power, and professional authority are navigated within DAE’s organizing practices. We call upon DAE to engage in a transparent process of cultural reflection and transformation to ensure that its advocacy does not reproduce patterns historically rooted in white-dominant power structures.

We further call upon the Durham Public Schools Board of Education to reaffirm and enforce clear standards of professionalism and racial equity in all formal governance spaces, including Meet and Confer sessions, so that future engagement proceeds under standards that protect dignity and integrity of all parties participating in the meetings.

Many of us signing this letter believe deeply in the necessity of union organizing. Educators deserve strong representation and collective voice. DAE has already made strides for workers in a myriad of ways, and there’s much more for them to accomplish. This call for accountability is not opposition to unions. It is opposition to harm.

No movement for justice can ask Black and brown leaders to absorb racial diminishment for the sake of the “greater good.” We reject the idea that racial harm is acceptable collateral damage in institutional conflict.

Human dignity is not negotiable. Black leadership cannot be undermined in the name of advocacy. Equity cannot be advanced through tactics that replicate racial hierarchy.

Power with people rather than power over people.  Always.

If union advocacy is to carry moral authority, it must reflect the very racial justice principles it claims to advance.

We invite all who agree to add their names below.

In solidarity,

Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock Lead Curator, WE ARE (working to extend anti-racist education, Inc) DPS Parent District 4

​Minnie Forte Brown Former Board Chair of Durham Public Schools NC National School Board Association Southern Regional Director

Ms. Jovanna R. Foreman, MLS DPS Educator

Ms. Tanisha Crosson DPS Educator

LeVon Barnes, M.Ed DAE Member DPS Educator

Alexandra Valladares Community Representative Comunidad de Durham

Rev. Larry E. Thomas Community Member

Rev. Carl Kenney

Aliyah Abdur Rahman Director of Innovation Communities In Partnership

Dr. William P. Jackson Founder/Executive Director of Village of Wisdom

Sue Unruhe Parent and Community Member District 4

Camryn Smith Executive Director Communities In Partnership

Dr. LaMar Mack Community Member Visalia, CA

Dr. Melissa A. Rasberry Former DPS Educator, Community Member District 1

DeLeon Gray Black and Belonging Durham, NC

Pastor Emeritus Frederick A. Davis Former DPS School Board Member

Antonio Jones, MPA DPS Parent, Community Leader District 4

Jack Rustin Turnwald, MAT Community Organizer, Former DPS Educator District 3

Häns D. Lassiter Retired Educator

Delvin Davis Parent and Community Member District 3

Kadijia Smith Magistrate Durham, NC

Tamieka Smith MBA HRM Parent Durham, NC

Bonnie Mwanda Educator Raleigh, NC

Liz Bennett Educator Former DAE member Working at NCCU

Stephanie Baker Parent, Community Member District 4

Jaclyn Morgenstern Former educator, Future DPS Parent District 3

Katie Mgongolwa Parent District 4

Kimberly Doughty DPS Teacher, DPS Parent, and Durham Community Member District 3

Bryan Setser Parent, Community Coach, and DPS Volunteer Durham, NC