Henrico County Public Schools has not banned the video on racism that upset some parents and their children at Glen Allen High School and created wider community turmoil when the Henrico County School Board chairwoman and superintendent apologized for it being shown.

In an interview Tuesday, Andy Jenks, spokesperson for Henrico County schools, told the Free Press, “No,” when asked if the video has been banned.

Mr. Jenks said he was representing the views of Superintendent Patrick Kinlaw.

“At no point did anyone from Henrico County Schools explicitly use the word ‘ban,’” Mr. Jenks said, referring to the Feb. 10 statement in which Dr. Kinlaw and School Board Chairwoman Michelle F. “Micky” Ogburn apologized for showing the video to students and indicated it would not be shown again in Henrico schools.

In the statement, Ms. Ogburn, said, “School leaders have been instructed not to use the video in their schools. In addition, steps are being taken to prevent the use of racially divisive materials in the future,” she said.

The county’s two top school leaders issued their joint statement six days after students at two Glen Allen High School assemblies on Feb. 4 watched the 4-minute video “Structural Discrimination: The Unequal Opportunity Race” as part of a presentation on race relations at the predominately white school.

The animated video, in which white and nonwhite runners line up on a track for a foot race, focuses on obstacles to progress that African-Americans historically have faced, shows the various benefits derived by white privilege and points out that affirmative action is one necessary step to help correct systemic racism and injustice.

“A portion of our board chair’s response on the subject stated that school leaders have been instructed not to use the video in our schools,” Mr. Jenks said. “We viewed that statement differently” than most in the public who believed that it calls for an outright ban.

He added that some board members, including Ms. Ogburn, indicated that they did not find the video offensive, but would have preferred it be viewed in other settings, such as “in a small classroom where a dialogue was more likely to occur and where viewpoints were more likely to be aired.”

When asked when the board would make a final decision on whether to allow the use of the video at Henrico schools in the future, Mr. Jenks said, “As we receive more community feedback and go through the process, we will determine how we go forward.”

“Any (determination) probably would take place in some sort of open session,” he said.

Ravi K. Perry, associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University who led the Glen Allen High assemblies, said it is clear to him that Henrico school leaders originally meant to ban the video as the statement indicated.

“The statement from the school board several weeks ago specifically instructed all teachers not to use the video,” he said Tuesday.

In an emotional address to the School Board at a public meeting last week, he said, “I’ve been attacked by you. You have insinuated very clearly in your statements that your goal is to ensure that this type of program never exists again.”

He added, “The story that’s been missing here is that Glen Allen High School, its administrators and its students are simply amazing. You have allowed those voices to be silenced by banning the video and by also not releasing the entire recording video of that discussion.”

Dr. Perry’s remarks mirrored those of a diverse array of dozens of people who spoke at the meeting against the video ban.

“Centuries of racism and white privilege have made you entitled and fragile and afraid to see a race-based video, which needs to be seen by everyone,” Zandra Hicks, a retired Richmond Public Schools teacher, told the board.

“Our biggest fear is the elimination of our community, which by the way is happening now,” said Ms. Hicks, who is African-American. “And yet you’re the ones who are insulted.”

Four of the five Henrico School Board members are white.

“Many of us are concerned by the message singling out this educational video for a ban sends. Doing so communicates to students of color that very real barriers to success that they or their family experience must go unacknowledged at school or be suppressed,” said Adria Scharf, director of the Richmond Peace Education Center.

The majority of those who spoke also backed the community-based effort to rename Harry F. Byrd Middle School. The school is named after the staunch segregationist and former Virginia governor and U.S. senator. He was one of the chief architects of “Massive Resistance,” a state-sanctioned policy designed to skirt the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling ordering public schools to be desegregated to end educational inequities.

Thousands of African-American children were denied an education when public schools were shut down rather than desegregate. State money also was steered to all-white private schools to pay for the education of white students in many jurisdictions where schools were closed.

The Rev. Marcus Martin of New Bridge Baptist Church in Henrico told the board he was representing a group of concerned clergy who favor renaming the school.

“The continued honor given to a person, Harry Byrd, with such a divisive history which goes against our mission and values as a school system should not be,” he said.

“We have a chance in this moment not to turn a blind eye,” he said, “or ignore what is blatantly in front of us, but rather confront and change because it’s right. You did not make this problem, but you have an opportunity to correct this problem.”

Brandon Rosado, a Tucker High School ninth-grader who attended Byrd Middle School last year, spoke on behalf of the Henrico Branch NAACP.

“Unfortunately, in 2016, there are still remnants of institutional racism and symbolism that remain in the public arena in the form of statues, flags, plaques, mascots and the names of institutions that were meant to intimidate, bully and oppress citizens of color,” he said.

“The recognition of Harry Flood Byrd Sr. as the name for an institution of learning is opposed to education and the ideal of a diverse society.”

Separately, the coalition leading the effort to rename Byrd is disputing the county’s estimated cost of about $138,000 to rename the school.

They said they have found several ways to reduce the cost to less than $30,000 that they asked Henrico school officials to consider.

The School Board will hold a second public hearing on the proposed name change 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, at Byrd Middle School, 9400 Quioccasin Road.