(ConservativeSense.com) – A school in Flagler County, Florida, is under fire for singling out black pupils and making them attend an assembly focused on improving their standardized test scores. Black students from grades 4 and 5 were taken out of class at Bunnell Elementary School and sent to the cafeteria, where some were asked to sit at the front of the assembly because their scores were acceptable, whereas others were offered gifts in exchange for promises to improve.
According to WESH radio, the kids were then told that if they were not successful, they could end up in jail. One child’s parent said that white kids were allowed to “continue their education, and the black children had to go out to be talked about the consequences of not being successful.”
The Flagler County Schools board chair, Cheryl Massaro, admitted that the incident occurred but added that it shouldn’t have. Interim Superintendent Lashakia Moore issued a statement and said she found no evidence of malice by teachers or the school. Ms. Moore said she had the opportunity to sit down with school principal Donelle Evensen to discuss what happened.
“In speaking with Mrs. Evensen, it is clear there was no malice intended in planning this student outreach. But sometimes, when you try to think outside the box, you forget why the box is there,” she said. The superintendent added that she understood it was an attempt to help a specific group of children, but it was not handled well.
Moore further expressed concern that parents were not included in the assembly or the decision to hold it. “From this point forward, all of our schools will engage our parents, no matter what group or subgroup their children may be in,” she wrote in response to the scandal.
Race is a tense issue in Florida’s schools due to legislation set down by Governor Ron DeSantis preventing instruction in critical race theory, the philosophy that black people are oppressed and whites are oppressors.
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