Virginia Beach school board keeps rewritten equity policy, rejects motion to send 5.4 back to committee and to pause April 8 resolution

The Virginia Beach School Board on May 13 declined two measures that would have slowed or reversed a board majority’s revisions to the district’s educational equity policy and strategic framework.

Board members voted 6–5 against a motion to return the redlined Policy 5.4 (educational equity) to the Policy Review Committee for further work, and rejected a motion 6–5 to pause parts of the April 8 resolution that had directed the district to alter equity-related materials while federal litigation over Executive Order 14190 plays out.

The votes followed more than two hours of public comment, in which dozens of students, teachers, parents and community members urged the board either to preserve the existing equity language or to proceed with the changes. Student speakers said removal of DEI language had already harmed school climate for some pupils: “I’m tired of the school board that claims to represent me and my peers not listening to a word we have said,” student speaker Madeline Sheets told the board. Hattie Friedman, another student, asked the board to “pause the suspension of DEI” while courts weigh whether the federal documents cited in the April 8 action are enforceable.

Why it matters: The board majority’s line-by-line rewrite removes or rewords references to “diversity,” “equity,” and “equity emphasis” in Policy…