Outrage erupts as only Black students at Florida school singled out for low test scores

By Claire Metz

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    FLAGLER COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — Parents of Black students in the fourth and fifth grades at Bunnell Elementary in Flagler County are upset, saying their children were targeted for underperforming on standardized tests.

Only Black students, whether low scoring or not, were called into an assembly Friday.

“Two races were divided. White and Black,” said a Bunnell Elementary School parent who did not want to be identified.

“You left the white children to continue their education, and the Black children had to go out to be talked about the consequences of not being successful,” she said.

The students were presented with a PowerPoint the district shared with WESH 2. One page is called the problem: “(African Americans) have underperformed on standardized assessment for the last past three years… Only 32% are at Level 3 or higher.”

The anonymous parent recalled what her daughter in fifth grade told her.

“‘They want our grades to be higher, and if we get a higher grade, then we will be rewarded with McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A,’” the mom said.

In addition, the parent and others we spoke to off camera said staff running the assembly made these alarming comments to the children.

“If they’re not successful when they are older, they could end up being killed or go to jail,” she said.

The parents say they were not told anything about the plan to single out students of color as though they and only they are what’s bringing the school down. The mother we spoke to on-camera says her daughter scored 4 and 5 on recent assessments.

“It became racial for me when they included and boxed all of the Black children together no matter if they were below average, average or above average,” the mother said.

And she says several of the higher-performing Black students, including her child, were called out.

“She felt embarrassed because she had to go on stage. She had to go on stage and made it seem like she was better than them,” the student’s mother said.

School district interim superintendent LaShakia Moore released a statement saying, in part, while there was no malice intended, how this so-called outreach was done does not meet expectations and that there are more appropriate ways to effect change.

The interim superintendent said that in the future, parents will be made aware of any effort to raise student achievement. She also said the district continues to investigate this particular issue.

The full statement from Superintendent Moore reads:

“I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with Bunnell Elementary Principal Donelle Evensen following an assembly of 4th and 5th-grade students. We have been able to talk about what led to this assembly and steps that were or were not taken before or after it. In speaking with Mrs. Evensen, it is clear there was no malice intended in planning this student outreach. However, sometimes, when you try to think ‘outside the box,’ you forget why the box is there. While the desire to help this particular subgroup of students is to be commended, how this was done does not meet the expectations we desire among Flagler Schools. We want our parents and guardians to actively participate in their children’s educational successes. Without informing them of this assembly or of the plans to raise these scores, our parents were not properly engaged. I will continue working with Mrs. Evensen and her team to find more appropriate ways to affect change on their campus, even as we continue to investigate this particular issue. I’m also asking anyone in our community who may have questions, please contact Mrs. Evensen at Bunnell Elementary or myself. That said, from this point forward, all of our schools will engage our parents, no matter what group or subgroup their children may be in, in our continued efforts to raise achievement among all students.”

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