*The NAACP and ACLU have begun protests against
the Chesterfield, Virginia County Schools because the
school district will require students to make up a snow
day on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
“I think for many it will be suspicious that the first
holiday to be sacrificed to make up for inclement weather
is Martin Luther King Day,” said Kent Willis, executive
director of the Virginia ACLU.
But the Chesterfield County School Superintendent,
Billy Cannaday, Jr., who is black, says that there is
another way to view the situation.
“It reinforces for me, as an African-American, Dr. King’s
strong belief in education as an equalizer,” Cannady said.
Virginia’s graduation laws require schools to make
up snow days before testing periods begin in the spring.
According to Cannady, January 20 is the first available
date after the Christmas vacation.
But, Chesterfield is not exactly a model of racial
tolerance. Earlier this year, its Board of Supervisors
passed a measure to name April as Confederate History
and Heritage Month. And in September, the white
supremacist group, World Church of the Creator,
held a meeting at a Chesterfield library.