Letter to the editor - Concern over School Board Trustee’s remarks

Erich Obermayr
02/20/2026 09:48 AM

I’m writing regarding some comments made by Trustee Sherry Parsons at the January 27, 2026, Lyon County School Board of Trustees meeting. The Board was discussing decorations to students’ caps and gowns during graduation ceremonies when Ms. Parsons said, referring to the Fernley High School graduation, that a particular student’s decoration made them look like “a Mexican restaurant.” Trustee Parsons went on to say, “I mean if there was, um, drug signs or something I wouldn’t have known because there was so much on her.” In other words, Mexican = drugs. That is textbook racism.

Let me be clear, I am not accusing Ms. Parsons of herself being a racist. I do not know her and her family, nor have I spent any significant time with her. I would never even consider making an accusation like that without knowing it for a fact with 100% certainty, and I am confident that “racist” is the last thing anyone who knows Ms. Parsons would say or think about her. But words have meaning, and they have effect, no matter what the intention.

Ms. Parsons’ comments were inappropriate and absolutely unacceptable coming from a School Board Trustee whose primary responsibility is to ensure that the district provides every student, no matter what their ethnicity, a safe and supportive learning environment. Singling out and targeting an individual student was also a gross violation of privacy which not only exposed the student to harassment and harm but also left the school district open to potential legal liability.

I would urge you all to contact the Lyon County School Board Trustees and the School District Superintendent, and demand that they take the following action:

• Introduce a motion to censure Trustee Parsons for her offensive and racist language and for publicly singling out and targeting a Fernley High School student.
• Require Ms. Parsons to recognize her misbehavior, publicly apologize, and agree to further School District training in the identification and elimination of racial discrimination.
• That the other School Board Trustees publicly apologize for remaining silent in the face of Ms. Parsons’ behavior.
• If the identity of the student in question is known, that the trustees issue a private apology to them and their family, which the family can make public if they so choose.