FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — Some parents are upset with a Flagler County school that they say singled out Black students over low test scores.

What You Need To Know

  • Parents are calling a meeting "unusual" that talked about the problems of not being successful
  • Some parents say their kids were “singled out” because they are Black
  • Flagler County schools addressed the issue in an official statement

One grandmother, who’s grandson attends Bunnell Elementary says only Black students were called into a meeting last Friday and talked about the consequences of not being successful.

Angie Pearson is the grandmother to Cameran McMillian who attends nearby Bunnell elementary. She picks up the 10-year-old everyday while the boy’s mother is working.

The 5th grader revealed to her that a small group of Black students were summoned into the cafeteria to listen to a speaker talk to them about their grades last Friday.

Pearson says the Cameran gets good grades and he was not sure why he was suddenly called to this strange meeting.

The students saw a PowerPoint presentation that addressed the test scores and set up a "F.A.S.T. challenge" to address the scores.

A series of slides that were included in the presentation at Bunnell Elementary.

One page points out African Americans have underperformed on standardized assessment for the past three years, and only 32% at Bunnell Elementary are at level 3 or higher.

Angie says the meeting with her grandson was bizarre.

“He spoke to them about their grades and was telling them, as far as black people don’t better their grades, they will end up going to prison, dying or getting shot,” Pearson said.

She said the students were going to have to compete with other students.

“They were going to partner kids with better grades, and they were going to compete with each other, and who ever had the better grade, they were going to gift them McDonalds gift cards,” she said.

Her grandson said none of this made sense to him.

“My grandson says that is not going to be fair. Because we already know they are going to have better grades," she said. "They don’t have to even try.”

In a statement from the Flagler School District Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore, “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.”

Administrators have invited parents of the children that were at the meeting to come to the school and talk face-to-face about the matter. 

Flagler Schools Statement by Phillip Stucky on Scribd