Mother Shares Son's Experience Facing Anti-Black Bias With FCPS Leaders
FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A Fairfax County mother's account of the anti-Black harassment her son experienced at Thoreau Middle School in Vienna became the emotional center of Thursday night's Fairfax County NAACP forum with Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid.
The forum, held at FCPS headquarters in Falls Church, was intended as a broad community conversation about equity, discrimination, discipline, teacher diversity and the school system's budget. But much of the discussion turned to whether FCPS is doing enough to respond to anti-Black bias in its schools — and whether parents and students who report racism are being heard before cases become public.
Ashleigh Williams, the mother of a Thoreau Middle School student, told Reid and other FCPS leaders that her son had experienced repeated anti-Black harassment, including students using the N-word, pouring water on his hair and handing him bananas while calling him a monkey. Williams said the incidents took a severe toll on her son's mental health and that the family had to get him therapy.
Mother Says Existing Responses Are Not Working
Williams said she was frustrated by school system language that treats racism and hate speech in broad terms without naming anti-Black racism specifically. She said her son's experience was not limited to words and involved repeated conduct that made him feel unsafe and unwelcome at school.
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"It's not working," Williams told FCPS leaders, referring to the district's current approach.
Williams had alerted school officials to the effect the incidents were having on her son and said, at one point, she feared he might harm himself. Williams said she slept on the floor of his bedroom and removed sharp objects because of her concern for his safety.
Scroll Down To View The Full Video Of The Fairfax NAACP FCPS Superintendent Forum
Williams also questioned how FCPS uses social and emotional learning screeners, which she said had reflected her son's low sense of belonging at school over multiple years. She asked how those data points are used to identify students who are signaling that they do not feel safe or included.
FCPS Chief Academic Officer Sloan Presidio said school leaders review divisionwide trends, principals and school teams examine school-level data, and counselors, social workers and psychologists look for individual outliers. Presidio said the system does not always get it right and acknowledged that students can still be missed.
Community Members Press FCPS On Accountability
Russell Brooks, chair of the Northern Virginia Democratic Black Caucus, also spoke at the forum and raised Williams' case as an example of what he described as a failure at the school level. Brooks said the family's concerns had been known for a long period and questioned why stronger action had not been taken sooner.
Brooks contrasted the response to Williams' concerns with what he described as a more direct response to an antisemitic incident at the same school. He said the issue was not whether antisemitism should be addressed, but whether anti-Black racism was being treated with the same urgency.
Fairfax County NAACP President Niki Zimmerman said the organization has received numerous complaints from Black families about students being harassed, bullied or called racial slurs in Fairfax schools. Zimmerman said parents come to the NAACP because they believe school administrators have not taken their complaints seriously.
The school system needs a comprehensive plan rather than responding case by case, according to Zimmerman. She said administrators, regional superintendents and executive principals must be held accountable when they fail to respond to reports of racism or provide cover for those who do not act.
Reid said hate, racism and hate speech have no place in FCPS and said she planned to meet with Williams to learn more directly from her. Reid said she would also meet with the region and school leadership to review the matter.
"We obviously need to do better," Reid said near the end of the forum, adding that her commitment was that the school system would improve.
Jameile Choice, the region superintendent for Thoreau Middle School, said Williams' allegations affected him personally and professionally. Choice said he had not known the full gravity of the situation before the matter was raised and said his team had contacted the principal, reviewed the timeline and scheduled a meeting with the family.
Choice said that if there were gaps in how the matter was handled, there would be accountability, though he noted personnel matters could not be discussed publicly.
FCPS Leaders Point To Reporting, Training And Discipline Work
FCPS officials described several efforts they said are intended to address discrimination and bias. Tara Hewan, executive director for equity and student relations, said the division has established a public discrimination and harassment reporting tool and expanded the definition of hate speech, slurs and discrimination in the Student Rights and Responsibilities document.
Hewan said FCPS has also added required interventions for students who engage in such behavior and that those interventions will be grade-aligned and monitored more intentionally next school year. She said the Chief Equity Office and Chief Academic Office have worked together on professional learning around discrimination, oppression and culturally responsive learning environments.
On discipline, Hewan pointed to the school discipline consortium, an FCPS effort aimed at reducing disproportionate discipline and exclusionary practices affecting students from historically marginalized racial, ethnic and linguistic groups. She said the division will also use grade-level matrices to standardize disciplinary responses and focus on intervention-based learning.
But several speakers said the district's plans and data did not match the reality they or their children had experienced inside schools.
During a follow-up interview after the forum, Williams said she believed FCPS leaders were hearing her but that the system still relied too heavily on familiar language and broad assurances. She said discipline alone is not enough when students repeatedly use racial slurs or target Black students.
Williams said there needs to be more education and intervention before harm occurs, not only consequences afterward. She described the current approach as too reactionary and said the district must do more to protect students before incidents escalate.
Natalie Cole, a representative with the Fairfax Education Association, urged the NAACP, FCPS and the broader community to develop a shared plan rather than continuing to have the same conversation. Cole said schools cannot solve the problem alone and asked what community members, educators and advocates can do together to define what change should look like.
In closing the forum, NAACP leaders said they wanted to be part of the solution. Reid said the evening had been difficult but necessary, and said FCPS staff would need to debrief what they had heard.
