Danville school district says superintendent will return to on-site work following alleged racist threats

woman sitting in a chair
Alicia Geddis has served as superintendent of Danville School District 118 since 2015.


Updated on Nov. 21 at 12:00 p.m.

DANVILLE– Members of the Danville District 118 School Board say they’ve reached an agreement with Superintendent Alicia Geddis to have her return to working in person. Geddis has been working remotely amid claims that she faced threats from white supremacists.

She has been the district superintendent for nearly 10 years and said she received a letter this summer whose author claimed to be with the Ku Klux Klan. That was after Geddis asked for the removal of confederate flags on display during a high school graduation ceremony.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Danville School Board President Randal Ashton read a statement from the group.

“We will be working with her on her return to on-site work, and we will not be commenting any further on this, as this is a personnel matter and there is still an open FBI investigation,” he said.

Some teachers spoke at the meeting to criticize the superintendent’s decision to work remotely. They argued the alleged threats did not exist.

Other attendees spoke in support of Geddis, urging the community to take her concerns seriously.

Lloyd Randle, a former Danville alderman, told IPM News ahead of the meeting that the threats to Geddis sent a clear message.

“We’re demonstrating to you how easy it is to find you and follow you, and when and where we choose, we will harm you,” he said. “That’s the unfortunate part of the reality of being an African American citizen in a small town in 2024.”

The NAACP in Danville sees the situation as part of an escalation of rhetoric about undocumented immigrants and others during Donald Trump’s campaign for presidency.
 
“White supremacists think they have a free reign now that they can text and email the Black community because of that rhetoric,” Danville NAACP President Edward Butler said. 
 
“We as a Black community are just not going to stand for it.”
 
Black people across the country received anonymous texts after Trump’s election about being summoned by “slave catchers” to “pick cotton.” 

As of Wednesday evening, the Danville Police Department declined to provide comment on the investigation. Geddis also did not return requests for comment.


Anulika Ochuba contributed to this report.

Emily Hays

Emily Hays started at WILL in October 2021 after three-plus years in local newsrooms in Virginia and Connecticut. She has won state awards for her housing coverage at Charlottesville Tomorrow and her education reporting at the New Haven Independent. Emily graduated from Yale University where she majored in History and South Asian Studies.