Johnathan Walker:Black elementary school students singled out for assemblies about improving low test scores

The Johnathan Walkerprincipal and a teacher at a Florida Elementary school have been placed on paid administrative leave after staff singled out Black fourth- and fifth-graders and pulled them into assemblies about low test scores.

The students at Bunnell Elementary School were diverted from their regularly scheduled activities Friday to attend meetings about expectations to improve standardized test scores.

It didn't matter whether the students had failing or passing grades ‒ the students were selected to attend the meeting based on race, Flagler County Schools spokesperson Jason Wheeler confirmed.

What followed was a five-slide PowerPoint titled "AA Presentation" which noted that Black students had underperformed on standardized assessments for the last three years. According to the presentation, which was riddled with typos, 32% of the school's Black students scored at Level 3 or above for math and language arts; that number should be 41% according to testing guidelines.

Read the Bunnell Elementary PowerPoint here.

Interim Flagler Superintendent LaShakia Moore apologized Wednesday, saying "no malice was intended" and the improvement effort was "executed in a way that does not align with the values of Flagler County Schools, the Flagler County School Board or this community.” In a videotaped statement posted to the district's website, Moore said, “Students should never be separated by race.”

As of Thursday, Bunnell Elementary Principal Donelle Evensen had been placed on administrative leave while the district investigates, and a faculty member involved in the effort, Anthony Hines, was also placed on administrative leave.

Evensen had just been named principal of the school in Bunnell, Florida, a couple of weeks before the start of the school year. She had been an assistant principal at the school for four years prior, according to Wheeler. Hines, an exceptional student education facilitator, was hired on Aug. 6, 2019.

'It should not have happened.'

During a press conference Thursday, Flagler County School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro began with an apology.

“The district does not, does not support in any way the activity that took place at Bunnell Elementary School," Massaro said. "To the parents and students affected by these actions of the Flagler County community, we make no excuses but extend our apology, all of our apology. It should not have happened. If we had known about it, it wouldn’t have happened. But it came to knowledge after the fact.”

Moore appealed to the community to continue working together to improve the academic performance of all students.

"We make no excuses for what happened," Moore said. "We offer our apologies."

She said next Tuesday there will be a community forum that will include the NAACP, the African American Mentoring program and other local groups committed to working with Flagler County Schools to help all students.

Moore said once the district's investigation is complete, a report will be forwarded to a committee who will make recommendations. She will then decide on appropriate disciplinary action.

She said through training and speaking with school staff, she hoped to prevent a similar incident from happening again, and she said she has made it a priority to speak with the families whose children were called into the assemblies.

“It remains a priority for me right now. I’m committed to calling each and every one of those families. I have reached a majority of them,” Moore said.

She said the families have been upset and concerned about “how and why it happened.” But the majority wanted to know how to work together.

"They were upset, but at the end of the conservation they understood this happened, it should not have happened. We apologized; now what are we going to do about it,” Moore said.

'The mama bear definitely came out'

Alexis Smith and her sister attended the press conference. They both have children who, despite being A-B honor students, were taken to one of the assemblies. She said the assembly exposed their children to segregation by race. And they were both upset.

“It’s infuriating to say the least,” Smith said. “The mama bear definitely came out of us. I felt like they took their innocence for granted. They don’t know what segregation is.”

She said her son, who is a fourth-grader, was just getting over the anxiety of a new school year when he was sent to the assembly. She said her son felt anxious when he saw Hines after the assembly and before he was placed on leave.

She questioned why only Black children were targeted.

“Why are you just wanting to help the Black kids do better, doesn’t other ethnicities, ethnic background groups, need help as well?” Smith wondered.

Smith expressed confidence in Moore, whom she and her son had met previously in the school system.

"I know her heart’s always in the right place," Smith said. "She loves the youth. She’s always there to uplift the youth. I do feel confident that she will get the justice that the kids deserve."