WS Chronicle

The Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity’s response to the racist text sent

by Lori Goins Clark

To The Editor:

We, the Ministers’ Conference of Winston Salem & Vicinity, would like to go on record showing our support for Dr. Kenneth Simington. We support and respect Dr. Simington for the indelible impression he has made on our children in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools system. Dr. Simington is one of the most highly educated professionals in our community. He has worked his way upward from project housing to assistant superintendent of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. This Conference is deeply concerned when an elected school board member texts racist and degrading images intended to characterize Dr. Simington negatively. We are appalled by Lori Goins Clark’s actions in this present matter. The Ministers’ Conference is extremely disappointed that Dana Caudill-Jones has not publicly condemned this blatant, racist communication and denounced the unprofessional actions of her former colleague, Lori Goins Clark. When we consider this type of behavior from school board members, we are not astonished that our black and brown students are failing miserably in our schools.  

While we are celebrating Ms. Woodbury, Forsyth County’s first female African American school board chair, and welcoming our first female African American school superintendent, we are experiencing a nightmare out of the Jim Crow era concerning this racist text. We are confident in Ms. Woodbury’s leadership as the school board chair; however, we are concerned with the lack of transparency shown by the school board in this particular matter. 

In closing, the Ministers’ Conference is speaking out on this act of racism from Lori Goins Clark and speaking up for Dr. Kenneth Simington, commending him for his 30 years of working in the trenches of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools system. We stand in solidarity as a faith community with 50-plus organizations comprising thousands of voting members in churches, mosques, and synagogues. The voting community will continue to hold its elected school board members accountable in these and other important matters in our community.

Social Justice Chair and Executive Committee 

Ministers’ Conference of Winston Salem & Vicinity