Posted on September 28, 2010

School Meetings for Only Black Students

WJXT-TV (Jacksonville, Florida), September 23, 2010

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The school district said it held a series of meetings for only their black students to encourage them to do better in school.

A spokesman said the principal [of Ware County High School] became concerned over low test scores and wanted to invite black speakers to address them.

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Princess Golden, a student who said she was required to be in the meeting, said she was shocked, too.

“It kind of upset me because I’m thinking, ‘Are black people going to be lower than the white kids?'” Golden said.

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According to the data [available online on the Georgia Department of Education’s website], the latest numbers show that 12 percent of black students at Ware County High School failed the math portion of the Georgia High School Graduation test, and 16 percent failed the language arts portion. That compares to 2 percent of white students who failed the math portion and 4 percent who failed the language arts portion.

With a population of about 1,200 students, 40 percent are black at Ware County High School, and all of the black students had to go to the meeting.

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“If we’re going to have a meeting, why can’t you have that with everybody?” Taylor [Penny Taylor, a parent of a student at Ware County High School] said. “We have been segregated enough.”