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Parents of an elementary school student have accused the school’s principal of separating Black students from their peers.
In a complaint filed with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights on July 22, Kila and Jason Posey allege that Mary Lin Elementary School principal Sharyn Briscoe separated Black second-grade students from students of other races, claiming it was for their own good.
According to the Poseys, the road to the complaint started when they raised a number of concerns with school administrators about the Atlanta school, where Jason Posey works as school psychologist. Kila Posey, 42, told The Washington Post in an interview that she and her husband were troubled with the school assessment that her then-second-grade daughter needed an early improvement plan, which is designed for students who are at risk of not remaining on grade level.
Posey, a veteran educator who owns an after-school program, said the school turned down multiple requests for information on how the teachers determined their daughter’s academic performance. Kila Posey discussed moving her child to another classroom under a teacher she believed to be a better fit. Briscoe allowed such requests since Jason Posey is an employee at the school, according to the complaint. Briscoe, who is Black, explained that the teacher Kila Posey wanted would mean her daughter would be the only Black child in the class, a point that the mother of two found confusing. Kila Posey said that when she asked why her daughter would be the only Black student in her class, Briscoe allegedly replied, “that’s not the ‘Black class.’ ” “My stomach dropped,” Kila Posey said. “I said, ‘We have those? It’s 2020. Why are we talking about Black classes?”
Briscoe did not respond to a request for comment. Despite the school being nearly 74 percent White and about 11 percent Black, Posey’s children have never had an issue being Black kids in a mostly White space, she said. Briscoe allegedly told the Poseys that she was trying to build a community for the Black students, sharing that she felt isolated being the only Black child in school growing up. The Poseys later raised their concerns with the Atlanta Public Schools district in November 2020 before filing their complaint. In a statement to The Post, the district said “using race as a method for assigning students to classrooms is unacceptable. APS does not support or condone this behavior.” The district also told NBC News that it had conducted a review and took “immediate and appropriate action,” without specifying what it had done to resolve the matter.
Kila Posey said going to the district in November 2020 started a series of retaliatory actions from Briscoe. The complaint alleges that Briscoe requested that Jason Posey be transferred to another school and tried to remove him from his office space at Mary Lin Elementary. School district officials thwarted her attempts, according to the court document. Briscoe also allegedly requested that Kila Posey’s after-school program no longer provide services for the school. While Posey’s contract with Mary Lin Elementary stayed, the complaint says that another contract with a school led by an alleged friend of Briscoe’s was terminated at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, according to the complaint. The Poseys’ attorney, Sharese Fields, said the next step is to see if the Education Department opens an investigation.
The Poseys and Fields would like to see Briscoe and administration officials who knew about the alleged separation of Black students be removed.
“However well intentioned [Briscoe] may have been, you just cannot have designated Black classes where you’re putting all the Black kids in one or two particular classes,” she said. “We know if a White principal had done that, it would’ve had a different rub to it.”
In a complaint filed with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights on July 22, Kila and Jason Posey allege that Mary Lin Elementary School principal Sharyn Briscoe separated Black second-grade students from students of other races, claiming it was for their own good.
According to the Poseys, the road to the complaint started when they raised a number of concerns with school administrators about the Atlanta school, where Jason Posey works as school psychologist. Kila Posey, 42, told The Washington Post in an interview that she and her husband were troubled with the school assessment that her then-second-grade daughter needed an early improvement plan, which is designed for students who are at risk of not remaining on grade level.
Posey, a veteran educator who owns an after-school program, said the school turned down multiple requests for information on how the teachers determined their daughter’s academic performance. Kila Posey discussed moving her child to another classroom under a teacher she believed to be a better fit. Briscoe allowed such requests since Jason Posey is an employee at the school, according to the complaint. Briscoe, who is Black, explained that the teacher Kila Posey wanted would mean her daughter would be the only Black child in the class, a point that the mother of two found confusing. Kila Posey said that when she asked why her daughter would be the only Black student in her class, Briscoe allegedly replied, “that’s not the ‘Black class.’ ” “My stomach dropped,” Kila Posey said. “I said, ‘We have those? It’s 2020. Why are we talking about Black classes?”
Briscoe did not respond to a request for comment. Despite the school being nearly 74 percent White and about 11 percent Black, Posey’s children have never had an issue being Black kids in a mostly White space, she said. Briscoe allegedly told the Poseys that she was trying to build a community for the Black students, sharing that she felt isolated being the only Black child in school growing up. The Poseys later raised their concerns with the Atlanta Public Schools district in November 2020 before filing their complaint. In a statement to The Post, the district said “using race as a method for assigning students to classrooms is unacceptable. APS does not support or condone this behavior.” The district also told NBC News that it had conducted a review and took “immediate and appropriate action,” without specifying what it had done to resolve the matter.
Kila Posey said going to the district in November 2020 started a series of retaliatory actions from Briscoe. The complaint alleges that Briscoe requested that Jason Posey be transferred to another school and tried to remove him from his office space at Mary Lin Elementary. School district officials thwarted her attempts, according to the court document. Briscoe also allegedly requested that Kila Posey’s after-school program no longer provide services for the school. While Posey’s contract with Mary Lin Elementary stayed, the complaint says that another contract with a school led by an alleged friend of Briscoe’s was terminated at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, according to the complaint. The Poseys’ attorney, Sharese Fields, said the next step is to see if the Education Department opens an investigation.
The Poseys and Fields would like to see Briscoe and administration officials who knew about the alleged separation of Black students be removed.
“However well intentioned [Briscoe] may have been, you just cannot have designated Black classes where you’re putting all the Black kids in one or two particular classes,” she said. “We know if a White principal had done that, it would’ve had a different rub to it.”
