Earlier this year, Spotsylvania County schools installed Evolv weapons detection systems at all five county high schools, as well as the Career and Technical Center and the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center.
But when school officials decided to place a system at the entrance of the division’s administrative building prior to Monday night’s school board meeting, it wasn’t an extension of the previous decision.
Instead, the action was the result of online threats against Superintendent Clint Mitchell and School Board Chair Megan Jackson following Jackson’s decision to dismiss public speaker Shamgar Connors from meetings on two previous occasions.
Connors’ dismissal from the Oct. 13 meeting — which came after he spoke out against the division’s handling of a child sex abuse case involving disabled children on a school bus — drew the ire of many on social media.
But Jackson reiterated Monday that it wasn’t the topic Connors was addressing that was the issue. Rather, she said, the board took action after he seemingly mocked a serious, traumatic event by making it into a song, and used “racist rhetoric” and a graphic term to describe what the children endured.
Connors is banned from attending meetings for the remainder of the school year, as he was served a “no trespassing” notice that advised him the decision was related to his conduct at the Oct. 13 meeting.
“The obscene depiction of child molestation in parody disrupted the decorum of the school board meeting, which is why I asked you to stop speaking,” Jackson wrote. “The right to free speech is protected under the law; however, this right must be exercised in a manner that preserves the decorum and order essential to the effective conduct of Spotsylvania County School Board meetings.”
Jackson noted during Monday’s meeting that some on social media expressed anger not only at her, but toward Mitchell and the county deputies who enforced her ruling. A video showed a Spotsylvania deputy saying that he had to follow the orders of his “boss” by removing Connors. Mitchell said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryan Mehaffey and members of the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office are aware of the threats, but he noted some are from outside the county and state.
“A few of the most disturbing comments stated that law enforcement and board members should be beaten down, that we deserve the death penalty, that we should be buried under the jail and that it is time to execute some board members,” Jackson said. “I don’t think words like that should ever be spoken, but especially in a time of such division in our country and when political violence has been so high with people actually following through with horrific acts that have taken lives.”
Jackson said all county school board members should condemn and denounce that type of language. Regardless of whether a citizen agrees with board members or not, they should understand they’re doing their best to serve the students, staff and families, “and none of us deserve to be executed for that.”
Mitchell said the weapons detection systems are necessary after the online threats. He also noted that the day after Connors’ dismissal, a caller threatened to drop off a truckload of illegal immigrants at the school board office.
“We are implementing this new process as a way to make sure our citizens, as well as our staff that’s in the boardroom, feel safe,” Mitchell told the Free Press … “We’re in a country where gun violence is a concern and the last thing I want to do is be in a place where we have a mechanism, which is the Evolv system, to be able to screen people, and we didn’t use it.”
The school division also recently reversed the previous administration’s decision to remove the administrative building’s distinction as a “gun-free zone.” The board voted 5-0 on Monday to add the building to the list of gun-free zones along with every school in the county.
One speaker, Jen Petersen, criticized the board for having a weapons-detection system at the board meeting and not at the middle and elementary schools. Petersen noted an incident last school year in which a third-grade student unintentionally discharged a weapon in the classroom at Lee Hill Elementary School.
After the incident, Mitchell said that he would like to see detection systems in all schools.
“Ms. Jackson, you ran on school safety,” Petersen said. “Whatever happened to putting students first, because this is clearly not a good example of it.”
Mitchell also addressed concerns regarding his immigration status and academic credentials after board member Lisa Phelps of the Lee Hill District requested his college credentials and background check documents last month.
Mitchell, a native of St. Lucia, removed his college degrees from the wall in his office and brought them to the dais to display. He also brought out his birth certificate, original visa from when he arrived in the U.S., a copy of his permanent residency identification, his social security card, and three passports.
While Mitchell said it’s regrettable that it came to that, the audience gave him a standing ovation. Spotsylvania NAACP President Moe Petway, who was in attendance, addressed the issue during public comments and said that the civil rights organization backs the superintendent.
Petway apologized to Mitchell on behalf of the community and requested that he never show his identification or credentials again. Phelps did not attend the meeting and was unavailable for comment.
“It’s a long history of people of color, Black people, when they achieve certain positions, that they are challenged by a group of people that want to make you feel ‘less than,’” Petway said. “You are well-qualified. You are more than acceptable. I’ve been in this county 30 years and I’ve never seen anyone challenged [about] who they are.”
After receiving inquiries about his immigration status, Mitchell, who was hired in 2024, began carrying his passport in his car in the event he was stopped by immigration authorities. Petway likened the inquiries into Mitchell to the scrutiny President Barack Obama faced about his birth certificate during his presidency.
“Please do not allow people to make you feel ‘less than’ or challenge your credentials,” Petway said to Mitchell… “So, please do not take your credentials around. We have a history, a long time ago, we have a history of we, us Black people, men, had to show their identity of who they are so they can get along. Not in 2025. In 2025, you should not have to have papers that identify that you’re a citizen.”
