VIRGINIA BEACH — School board members in Virginia Beach voted 6-5 to officially end diversity and inclusion initiatives in the school district.

Specifically, the board has spent several meetings discussing updates to Policy 5-4, formerly known as “Educational Equity.” The policy had previously included several sections and references to “diversity,” “inclusion,” “implicit bias,” “cross-cultural” and “equity.” All of those references are now removed, and Policy 5-4 is renamed to “Educational Opportunity and Achievement.”

But what the policy change will mean in practice has yet to be hashed out. A couple of school board members said it is unclear how certain clubs or student groups could be affected.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, about 20 residents spoke during public comment, many of whom were students and parents. While many of the speakers were in support of continuing diversity initiatives within Virginia Beach, a couple speakers were concerned about “indoctrination” and how diversity initiatives were divisive. Student speakers said they are concerned LGBTQ, female or minority students could lose support and resources at their schools as a result of the new policy.

Board members Michael Callan, David Culpepper, Carolyn Weems, Kathleen Brown, Mark Bohenstiel and Rose Dwyer voted to remove DEI from school policy. Matt Cummings, Sharon Felton, Kimberly Melnyk, Alveta Green and Melinda Rogers voted against the change in policy.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued directives threatening to cut federal funding for public schools with DEI programs, and the vote marks the fourth time the board has considered the future of DEI policies. Currently, there is no plan to reverse the change if federal directives are deemed unconstitutional.

The board first voted to remove DEI policies from its schools on April 8 so the school system could continue receiving its federal funds. Since then, more than 100 members of the public have spoken during public comment at meetings. Earlier this month, some of the board members who wanted to continue DEI initiatives called a special meeting after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s directives. That vote failed to pass, which led to DEI efforts being on the chopping block again Tuesday night.

Before the official vote, Brown, who is chair of the board, proposed adding a single sentence to the new policy, which would have stated that the board “values the diversity in our students, families, staff and volunteers.” That proposal failed 6-5, with Cummings, Felton, Melnyk, Green, Bohenstiel and Rogers voting against adding the sentence.

“I don’t think the public wants just a sentence to satisfy them. I think they want genuine work being done,” Rogers said. “I think they want actual diversity, equity and inclusion in our schools. And I think it’s really an almost cheap parlor trick to throw in a sentence at the last minute as a ‘Here guys, this will satisfy you,’ when it’s not genuine.”

What is and is not allowed hasn’t been defined yet — which has put schools in a difficult position.

The U.S Department of Education put out a notice April 3, following a “Dear Colleague” letter in February that asserted DEI practices were discriminatory in nature, citing the Supreme Court case that ended affirmative action. Since then, the Department of Education has opened numerous investigations into public school districts, including in Fairfax County.

While schools are trying to follow federal guidance, they also have to ensure that they are meeting Virginia’s guidelines, which might conflict with the federal government’s demand. This leaves board members and educators in a position where they’re unsure if certain multicultural events, clubs and special education instructional content can continue.

Since the initial vote, multiple webpages referring to diversity have been deleted. The school system’s DEI Department’s webpage, as well as another webpage cataloging the division’s “diverse history” are gone.