August 25th 2023.
Recently, a principal and teacher at a Flagler County, Florida elementary school were placed on administrative leave after calling an assembly for only fourth and fifth-grade Black students. This assembly was held at Bunnell Elementary School, and a PowerPoint presentation was used to outline possible improvements for academic achievement among Black students.
The principal of the school, Donelle Evensen, said the assembly was held with “no malice”. However, Flagler County School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro pointed out that the FDOE requires annual reporting from all Florida schools, and the PowerPoint was created by one of the presenters to show the data results.
Flagler Schools interim superintendent Lashakia Moore commented on the assembly, saying that while the desire to help this subgroup of students is commendable, the assembly did not meet the expectations of Flagler Schools. Moore also noted that parents were not properly engaged, and did not receive any prior information about the assembly or plans to raise these scores.
In response to the outrage from the community and the student’s families, Moore has been actively addressing the backlash. She has been speaking to parents either face-to-face or over the phone, and said that while they were initially upset, the majority of families ended the conversation with an agreement to work together as a community to ensure something like this never happens again.
The two school staffers have been on leave since August 18th, and it is still unclear when or if they will be allowed to return. Moore said that the school district is committed to working with the families and the community to ensure that this incident is not repeated.
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