Firing of Black staff sparks protest at St. Vincent High

Petaluma’s St. Vincent de Paul High school, already under fire from some alumni and community members for participating in a school reopening forum with President Donald Trump last month, is at the center of a growing controversy over its decision to terminate the employment of its only two Black staff members.

Approximately 150 protesters converged outside the private Catholic school Sunday afternoon in a demonstration of support for two Black women — Joanna Paun, former dean of counseling, and Kinyatta Reynolds, who taught physical education — dismissed by the school mid-June along with two other employees in a move the school says was purely financial.

A caravan of a dozen cars painted with Black Lives Matter messages shepherded the protesters from the school to the steps of St. Vincent de Paul Church in downtown Petaluma, honking in rhythm to the group’s “Black teachers matter” chant.

They were met by about 60 counter-protesters, some wielding signs proclaiming support for the high school and its principal, Patrick Daly, along with several Trump re-election and Thin Blue Line flags. It marked the first Black Lives Matter protest in Petaluma to see organized pushback from people who do not support the national movement, which calls for an end to police brutality and systemic racism.

Paun, who also serves on the Petaluma City School District Board of Education, was stunned by the response.

“We’re just really grateful for the community support. I did not expect this many people, I am shocked,” she said. “There’s been a dozen Black Lives Matter protests in Petaluma and not a single one has been opposed in this way, and I just ask — why?”

Controversy over White House visit

With the caravans continuously circling the block, demonstrators and counter-protesters took up opposite ends of the property, with a line of American and Trump flags on the church’s front steps and a circle of protesters holding Black Lives Matter signs at the opposite lawn.

Arguments erupted throughout the three-hour protest between opposing camps. The Petaluma Police Department issued a statement Monday asking for more information about allegations of a potential assault.

Santa Rosa resident Kathy Senzell, who carried a large “Women for Trump” flag, argued with several protesters during the course of the afternoon. She said she came out to support the school as a Catholic, but took specific issue with the group’s association with the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It was posted all over Facebook that this would be a Black Lives Matter thing, so that’s why these flags came out,” Senzell said. “If they’re going to be political, then we’re going to be political right back, it’s only fair. All is fair in love and war, so there you go.”

While the protest was organized by a group of approximately two dozen alumni and several community members to express outrage over the school’s decision to visit the White House and lay off Paun and Kinyatta, counter-protesters focused on national political grievances.

Several, all refusing to share their names, considered the event a pro-Trump and anti-Black Lives Matter demonstration, unaware of the specific complaints alleged at St. Vincent de Paul High School.

School principal Daly’s participation in the July 7 White House forum on school reopening has elicited strong reactions. Hundreds of alumni signed an open letter excoriating the administrator for the visit, while many of Sunday’s counter-protestors praised it.

Trump campaign flags hoisted by counter-protesters Sunday at times outnumbered pro-Daly signs, with several combining the two messages on single slabs of posterboard.

Daly and the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church, Father William Donahue, issued a statement Saturday asserting the school’s presence at the Washington forum was not intended to align the school with any political party, but was a chance to discuss school reopening strategies.

“It was an opportunity for one of our sophomores to give a presentation to the President, Vice President, First and Second ladies and to experts, to address them in the East Room of the White House,” Donahue said. “I think it would be self-indulgent for anybody to say that kid should not have that opportunity because they don’t like the current party. I think that’s childish and self-indulgent.”

Former Black staff allege discrimination

With the recent White House visit a simmering backdrop, the recent termination of two positions held by the school’s only Black staff members further catapulted the school into the public eye.

Approximately 230 St. Vincent de Paul alumni and community members signed July 20 an open letter accusing the school of racial discrimination by terminating the employment of Paun and Reynolds in mid-June. The letter alleges the two women were dismissed from their positions one week after attempting to discuss institutional racism and potential solutions with school leadership.

Paun and Reynolds are now looking to pursue legal action against the private Catholic school, claiming racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation, according to lawyers Elizabeth Riles and Rebecca G. Kagin, who are representing the two women. They declined to further comment further, and a lawsuit has not been filed.

At the Sunday protest, Paun and Reynolds listened as a handful of former students recounted negative experiences at the school, asking for greater accountability to address discrimination.

“It’s amazing, and I know it’s not just about us, this is about all the past faculty, students who want clear communication, transparency and change,” Paun said.

The roughly 600-word open letter claims the school has historically undermined diversity and inclusion efforts on campus and has enabled an “adverse environment” for students and faculty of color.

The letter also calls for greater transparency of the school’s budget, its hiring practices, advertising and of the student body’s diversity. Its signatories also demand mental health counseling, diversity and inclusion efforts be “restored and revitalized,” along with a review of all leadership at the school.

In the school’s statement, Daly and Donahue say the elimination of four positions, including those held by Paun and Reynolds, was a last resort forced by declining revenue and rising costs, and not motivated by race.

They say the switch to distance learning was also a factor, as physical education classes are canceled and the school has reformulated its in-person counseling services. The four eliminated positions have not been filled, the statement says.

“If anybody can convince me there is serious and systemic racism in this school, I will be on their side,” Donahue said. “But I think people are upset because of the incumbent in the White House and we happened to go there for completely non-political reasons.

“In regard to the employment issue, I think the protesters just didn’t do their homework. We were around all summer, nobody bothered to get our side of the story. They’re a hammer that sees everything as a nail,” he said.

The statement also claims that 41 percent of the school’s student body and over 23% of current faculty and staff are non-white, a metric Daly and Donahue say refutes critics’ claims that St. Vincent de Paul High School does not promote diversity.

Some support school

While about 150 came out Sunday to express their outrage over the school’s recent decisions, a group of current students and parents are pushing back against the criticisms and making a plea for a peaceful resolution.

In a video released over the weekend, a group of nearly two dozen kids and parents speak directly to the camera.

“I believe that yes, Black Lives Matter, and St. Vincent isn’t perfect, no school is,” they say in the video. “But it’s our family’s school of choice and I support the SVHS community, my friends my peers and my teachers. We reject the suggested narrative that we are a racially divided community.”

Aidan Lynch, who graduated from the school in 2013, penned both open letters with three alums. Lynch said they wanted to spark more discussion among the school’s alumni about the school’s environment and create more opportunities for diversity and inclusion.

“We do not want the school to close, we want things to turn around,” Lynch said. “We want leadership to be more inclusive and reflective of the community, and one that will grow.”

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr.)