Florida elementary school apologizes after assembling all the Black children from two grades into a room and telling them to do better
Black students from the elementary school's fourth and fifth grades were told as a group that they had been underperforming on standardized tests.
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- A Florida school held an assembly lecturing Black elementary schoolers on their testing performance.
- Only the Black students from the school's fourth and fifth grades were singled out, CNN reported.
- The school's principal and a teacher are now on paid leave, school district officials said.
Two employees of a Florida elementary school are on leave after Black students from two grades were called to an assembly and lectured on improving their academic performance.
A community in Flagler County in central Florida was left shocked after Bunnel Elementary School employees hosted an assembly solely for Black students in fourth and fifth grade. Regardless of each student's academic performance, the group of children was shown a presentation suggesting they weren't testing high enough on standardized exams, CNN reported.
Flagler Schools Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore apologized to the students and families of the community in a news conference on Thursday.
"We make no excuses of what happened, we offer our apology, and we offer actionable actions for us to move forward in supporting our students, supporting our schools, and supporting this community," Moore said during the conference.
The students singled out in the assembly were shown a presentation of the school year's goals, a portion of which said that Black students "have underperform on standardized assessment for the last past 3 years," Flagler County School Board chair Cheryl Massaro told CNN.
The county is investigating "the entire situation," Moore said at the news conference. The elementary school's principal, Donelle Evensen, and a teacher are now on paid administrative leave, CNN reported. An automatic reply to a request for comment to Evensen indicated that she would be out of the office until August 31.
"We talk to our students about 'See something, say something.' But we want to make sure our staff that may feel like, 'Something isn't right with this,' that they are empowered to speak up," Moore said during the news conference.