Ogburn resigns as chair of Henrico School Board but will remain on the board

A month after sharing an offensive Facebook post that she said she hadn’t fully read or seen, Henrico School Board Chair Micky Ogburn Thursday resigned her leadership role on the board, though she will remain as Three Chopt District representative.

Vice Chair Marcie Shea of the Tuckahoe District will serve as acting chair until the board selects a new chair at its April 22 meeting.

The position is largely ceremonial, and board members typically rotate the role among themselves each year.

Ogburn’s decision took effect at noon Thursday, according to school system officials. It came a week after fellow board member Alicia Atkins, of the Varina District, called on her to give up the title and a day after the Henrico NAACP did so. Two weeks ago, during a virtual listening session with the board, a number of citizens also expressed frustration that Ogburn was not being reprimanded for her actions, which they said would have drawn significant reprimands for students or employees.

On March 5, Ogburn shared a post that lamented a recent decision by the estate of Dr. Seuss to cease publication of six of his books that it deemed partially racist and wrote above it “I love this and Dr Seuss books.”

The post contained a picture of The Grinch with his middle finger extended and a long poem written to mimic Seuss’s style that criticized the idea that any Seuss books were racist.

Ogburn deleted the post within several hours after receiving backlash – at which time she said she read it fully for the first time and was horrified by its content.

In the hours and days afterwards, she apologized profusely, taking responsibility for sharing the post but saying that had she read it in its entirety, she never would have shared it to begin with because she vehemently disagreed with its message.

That didn’t sit well with many in the community, though, who wondered what part of the post she did “love” and how she had missed its tone, intent and picture.

During a special board meeting March 10 called specifically to address the post, Ogburn apologized publicly, and the board announced that it would undergo required cultural sensitivity and implicit bias training.

It appeared then that Ogburn would retain her leadership position on the board.

But the topic didn’t die and has continued to be a source of frustration for some constituents in the weeks since.

Then on March 29, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Atkins had changed her mind and asked Ogburn to give up her role as chair but not her seat on the board.

On Wednesday, the Henrico NAACP also called for her to do the same, writing in a Facebook post that Ogburn has displayed a “years-long pattern of racial insensitivity” and that it had “lost confidence in her ability to lead our county’s growing and diverse school district. Her actions do not reflect the values that HCPS claims to purport, and are in direct conflict with the educational needs of African-American students in Henrico.”

Ogburn had been criticized in 2016 when, as board chair, she apologized to constituents after Glen Allen High School showed a video to students illustrating the concept that whites often have inherent advantages over minorities. The video prompted outrage from white parents, who pushed back at the notion of “white guilt.”