When ICE agents detained Jose Flores outside his Oakmont home last month, Riverview School Board President Antonio Paris drew on a traumatic incident from his own past in rallying support for the detained father.
Though he remembers a warm and supportive environment as a Riverview student, a later assault prompted by his skin color and sexual orientation made him run for the school board so he could speak up for others.
“I think that [incident] kind of gave me a little perspective, for sure, and I definitely felt like that perspective could be lent into a leadership role,” said Paris, who joined the board in 2022.
The same instinct kicked in after Flores’ detention. An attorney, Paris set about drafting a student safety policy detailing how the district might respond if ICE officers appeared on school property. The board passed it unanimously on Feb. 9.
At 31, Paris is an attorney specializing in family practice at McMorrow Law and has made history as the first gay, Black school board member of the Riverview School District. Beyond his local role, he was also recently elected as sectional advisor for Allegheny County at the Pennsylvania School Board Association and serves on the board of Allegheny Intermediate Unit.
For Paris, representation is essential.
“The real passion of being on [the board] is, like I said, just knowing that I can be a help to people, and also just knowing that there’s also people that look like me on there that are representing students that also look like me.”
‘A little naive’ until the assault
Born in Ohio, Paris moved to the Pittsburgh region in 2000 so his mother could take care of his great-grandmother and settled in Oakmont two years later. His family chose the community to give Paris access to the many advanced and honors courses and extracurricular activities offered at Riverview.
Paris thrived in school. He excelled in debating and participated in Model United Nations. He enjoyed meeting people from different schools, debating real-world problems and finding solutions.
He was the president of the school’s Key Club, a student-led organization that focused on building leadership skills and community volunteering services. He was the captain of the cheerleading team, ran track and field, was a dance team member and the editor-in-chief of the Riverview yearbook.
Paris’ early immersion in leadership and a love for debating made a career in law a logical next step. But he also wanted it since he was a child. His elementary school principal had once told his parents, “He loves to argue. He should be a lawyer when he grows up.”
After early career success, a moment of personal crisis drew Paris back to the school system that formed him – this time as a leader.
In 2021, three men used homophobic slurs and assaulted Paris in an alley in Oakmont. All three pleaded guilty to crimes in relation to the attack.
“I definitely had a little bit of like a rose colored lens, almost,” he said. “I was a little naive to think that I could be the victim of a hate crime or something.”
The attackers were known to Paris — they were in high school at Riverview with him. But they did not reflect his overall experience there, where he recalled being completely accepted as a gay, Black man.
“I had my lip gloss on, and I had my sprays, my lotions, like I was very out and open and proud about it, and never once did I feel like I couldn’t be with my teachers or with students.”
Seeking pragmatic solutions
Riverview School District by the numbers
- Municipalities: Oakmont, Verona
- Students: Around 1,010
- Total population: 9,226
- Percent of student population that is white: 84.2%
- Percent of population foreign-born: 1.5% (vs. 6.6% countywide)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024, analyzed by Census Reporter.
Likewise, after the incident, community members and former teachers rallied for Paris and supported him.
He ran for the board to fill a vacancy in 2022, committed to reflecting that message of acceptance and safety back to students in the district.
Oakmont resident Stephanie Grimes was among the community members urging him to run. She thought Paris’ unique perspectives and skill set would be valuable for the school.
“Antonio always seems to be open to hearing those [challenges] out and coming up with really pragmatic potential solutions that he can bring,” she said, adding that Paris also advocated for students in special education and asked uncomfortable questions when necessary.
No one should go it alone
That solution-oriented philosophy led Paris to create a student safety policy following the detention of Jose Flores. The policy outlines guidance for district employees for interacting with law enforcement authorities including the local police department, state and federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Children, Youth and Families services.
Board member Bridget Seery thought that introducing the policy was a necessary and important step and she appreciated Paris reaching out to other board members before introducing it in public.
“I think that he is collaborative and seeks out our point of view and our direction,” she said.
Paris said he was drawn to the legal profession because he could balance the “black and white” aspects of legal code and the more nuanced “grey areas.”
“I like that ability to know concretely, ‘here’s what I need to do, here’s what I don’t need to do, here’s what I shouldn’t do,’” he said. “But then, I also like the idea that it’s sometimes open for interpretation.”
Paris said he has seen a visible shift in the legal system, where many immigrants are not getting due process in the federal immigration enforcement system.
“It’s frightening to see from an attorney perspective, but I couldn’t imagine seeing it from a layperson or just a citizen,” he said. “Because what does that even look like for everyone else that doesn’t know the law and doesn’t even know how it should be done?”
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He saw how, in Riverview, he could create a policy assuring students and families their human rights, dignity and safety were being represented and protected.
“I don’t want people to ever feel like they’re not a part of this community and or that they have to ever be worried about coming into our community,” he said. “That should never be a feeling that anyone has to go through, let alone at Riverview.”
Correction: This story was updated on Feb. 23 to accurately state the year Paris moved to the Pittsburgh region.
Lajja Mistry is the K-12 education reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at lajja@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Jamie Wiggan.
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