Here is the latest installment of our Real Racism series – and a particularly disgusting one at that:
From Claire Metz’s article for WESH – Daytona Beach, Florida:
Parents of Black students in the fourth and fifth grades at Bunnell Elementary in Flagler County are upset, saying their children were targeted for underperforming on standardized tests.
Only Black students, whether low scoring or not, were called into an assembly Friday.
“Two races were divided. White and Black,” said a Bunnell Elementary School parent who did not want to be identified.
“You left the white children to continue their education, and the Black children had to go out to be talked about the consequences of not being successful,” she said.
The students were presented with a PowerPoint the district shared with WESH 2. One page is called the problem: “(African Americans) have underperformed on standardized assessment for the last past three years… Only 32% are at Level 3 or higher.”
The anonymous parent recalled what her daughter in fifth grade told her.
“‘They want our grades to be higher, and if we get a higher grade, then we will be rewarded with McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A,’” the mom said.
In addition, the parent and others we spoke to off camera said staff running the assembly made these alarming comments to the children.
“If they’re not successful when they are older, they could end up being killed or go to jail,” she said.
Could that be more classic racism?
All Black children – including those who are doing well in school – were singled out and treated as though they were underperforming, and maybe candidates for death or jail…
…while all non-Black children (presumably mostly White) – including those who are underperforming in school – were spared the speech about performance and the consequences of not doing well.
The short version: Black students: bad. Non-Black students: good.
And this, of course, is before we get to the Black students being offered a fast-food hamburger or chicken dinner if they do well. (At least they didn’t include chittlins and collard greens).
Only after some Black parents (and, I would hope, non-Black parents as well) expressed their outrage, the interim School Superintendent, LaShakia Moore (herself Black) put out a statement which said, in part:
“it is clear there was no malice intended in planning this student outreach. However, sometimes, when you try to think ‘outside the box,’ you forget why the box is there.”
I don’t know what that means – other than it being a clumsier-than-clumsy way of trying to cover her and her teachers’ asses.
Presumably based on negative reaction to this statement, Ms. Moore then put out a more strongly worded apology. But the damage was done.
Hey, here’s a thought: how about holding an assembly of all students – not singling any groups out, racial or otherwise – and expressing the concerns/warnings that were expressed exclusively to Black students. (Wouldn’t they be as meaningful to high performing students as underperformers?) And, then, dealing with the most seriously underperforming students on an individual or small-group basis…regardless of their skin color.
Real Racism. It can come in any form from any source. Certainly including an elementary school that worries about underperformance…but only from one race.
