Racial Discrimination In Douglas County GA Public Schools

[CrimsonTide4]

Racial Discrimination In Douglas County GA Public Schools
By Michael L. McIntosh
Incident #1
I discovered on October 2003, a Male Caucasian principal (Edward Bengston) of Fair Play Middle school is reported intoxicated on the job. The smell of alcohol and abnormal actions had been reported numerous times by students, teachers and parents to the school district main office over a two-month period. Public intoxication and substance abuse while employed in a Georgia public school district is in violation of Board Policy and state law. The school superintendent (white male) (Donald Remillard) directs the Middle school director (Suvess Ricks) to approach the principal and offer him to take a thirty-day leave of absence to enter alcohol rehabilitation. The principal is not reprimanded, suspended, or terminated in accordance with district policy. There is no investigation nor was the white male principal reprimanded in any way even though he was in violation of district policy.

An African- American middle school principal (Michael L. McIntosh) is accused of answering one question wrong (whether he was terminated from a previous position) on his employment application and not completing his application for Georgia certification in 30 days. He is summarily suspended, the superintendent (Remillard) calls local police and five local police and comes to the school with the Student Services Director (Larry Ruble white male) to escort the principal out of the building during end of day dismissal when all of the 650 students are there along with parents in an effort to humiliate him. The white male superintendent begins termination proceedings against the African-American principal and forces the principal to resign or be terminated. The allegations were later proven false but the Black principal was told to either resign or they would ruin his career. The superintendent then appoints the wife of the Student Services Director (Ruble) as principal of the same predominately black school. The Black female Assistant Principal, (C.Taylor) is constantly harassed by the new white female principal until she is forced to resign or is threatened with a sub-standard performance rating. Therefore there are no minority administrators in 2/04 after the year began with two of them.

The white male principal (Bengston) was in clear violation of state and federal law in addition to district policy and endangered the students while publicly intoxicated while on duty. The Black principal (McIntosh) broke no laws, but was escorted of campus during afternoon dismissal in an attempt to humiliate him. He is then replaced with a white female principal, who is the wife of one of the district officials who came over to remove him from his post. This is clearly unfair treatment on the Black principal, which broke no laws, but was treated unfairly. This was an act of unfair treatment based upon race. It was an act in retaliation for the prejudiced and biased treatment found by the Black principal and his refusal to continue these unfair and illegal practices.

Incident #2
In October 2003, A white female paraprofessional assaulted a black female student by grabbing a purse she had around her neck and called the 7th grader a ho (euphemism for whore). She made the statement that You look like a ho with that pocketbook around your neck When the student shouted as the paraprofessional and refused to remove it, she physically attempted to pull if from around her neck. The Black Principal (McIntosh) contacted the district office (supt) and recommended termination for assault on a student which is against district policy and state law. A letter of reprimand was the only action taken.

A black female paraprofessional (Turner) reported to the Black principal that the white female teacher she was assigned to has abandoned the special education students and had exited the room by way of the window. She was mentally unstable and left the building crying uncontrollably on two occasions and often verbally abuses the students. The minority paraprofessional is the only minority member of the Special education department. This is the second such incident and the Black principal reports to district administration that he recommended termination of this white female teacher because of desertion and being unfit for duty. Because the Black paraprofessional reported this to the principal, she is issued a written reprimand for allegations made by the same white teacher and is then transferred out of the school by district officials into another school to work with severely handicapped students in an effort to force her to resign. She later resigned from the position after continuous harassment by her new administrator. This is clearly unequal treatment of two paraprofessional based upon race.

Incident #3
In September 2003, I discovered that over 75% of the students in Project Challenge (a program for academically gifted students at Stewart Middle School) are Caucasian. Only 20% of the students at SMS are white, while 80% are minority (African American & Latino). I also found that the coordinator (White female teacher Davis)) would not give an explanation for this curious dilemma. My (McIntosh) Investigation of the records of the students in the program shows that over 50% of the white students in the program do not meet the minimum qualifications for entrance into the program. They were placed there by the program coordinator and the district level officials (Corrine Barnes). I reported this to the Gifted & Talented Coordinator (Barnes) and Superintendent (white female and male) and they had no answer for these discrepancies. This is clear discrimination based upon race.

In September 2003, I discovered that while white students made up only 20% of the student population, they were 75% of the gifted program at SMS. In direct contrast African American students represented 78% of the population and 80% of the special education population, but less than 25% on the Gifted program.

In October 2003, I found that Individualized Education Programs written for Special Education students were nearly identical which showed that there was very little real diagnosis done for individualized student needs. 75% of the students are African-American. I also discovered that modifications for these students were not delivered to all teachers in accordance with state and federal laws under IDEA. In short, these students were not being served per the laws and district regulations. I reported this to the Special Education administrator (white female) Jane Hamilton, and she became very irate and reported my actions to the Supt. (white male). No actions were taken to rectify this situation. I also found that these same special education students showed no significant academic progress even with the modifications. I found students who entered with a third grade reading level in the sixth grade and left the eighth grade with the same reading level. The educational evaluator was pulled from Stewart Middle School after two months to serve other schools, even though SMS has a substantial number of students (over 200) with active Individualized Education Plans. Students with disabilities make up over one-third of the student population of Stewart Middle School, with student assignments made almost weekly. This is in direct contrast to Chapel Hill Middle School (predominately white) which has over 1000 students, compared to 640 at SMS. Even though they have over 1000 students, they have less than 50 students with disabilities. District officials will not assign them to Chapel Hill Middle because they want to keep it as a School of Excellence.

In September 2003, I discovered that there are no African American guidance counselors in the entire school district even though the school district is over 30% minority. There are no Minority administrators on the high school level. Only one district level official is African American (Suvess Ricks) and that person has been passed over three times for a promotion to upper level administrative position. On each occasion, a white person was selected. The Supt. has less experience than this minority official. The district superintendent has never been a building level principal. I discussed this number with the Superintendent and he told me there were no qualified counselors that had applied for these positions. The same argument was made about the lack of minority teachers in the school and the district. I found that there is a practice that insures that qualified minority applicants are not interviewed and subsequently not hired. Each applicant has to complete a screening interview that is performed by a number of district level officials, which of the seven, only one was minority. The applicant is given a low rating that places them on a scale that insures that a low rating will place the minority applicant at the bottom of the pile. The white applicants are interviewed first and an employment decision is made before the minority applicant can even get a chance. I had to interview seven white applicants usually before a minority applicant would be available for an interview. I consistently found that minority applicants received the lowest rating from these screening interviews. I reported this practice to the Supt. and he refuted this finding even though I showed him evidence. This is a clearly discriminatory practice that leads to biased and discriminatory hiring practices, which benefit whites and harm minorities.

Incident #4
In October 2003, I discovered that the school board had passed a school zone change reduced the assignment area for Stewart Middle School. The School board representative for Stewart Middle School and the feeder schools (all of them are over 80% Minority) is a white female (Chrissie Smith), who does not live in that school district that she is representing. She has been in office for nearly two years and has visited the schools she supposedly represents only one time before November 2003.The school board moved assignment zones so that three new large upper income housing communities would not have to send their children to SMS that is predominately African-American and has had chronically low test scores, and numerous incidents of violence. This has adversely affected the enrollment of SMS. Enrollment has dropped from 851 to 650 over one year period, while the rest of the school district has grown. The student population of the district increased by over 1,000 students per year and the enrollment of the other middle schools increased while SMS decreased. The school board regularly approves transfers for white students, while denying transfers for minority students who want to leave the school. These discriminatory practices have harmed the minority students at SMS. This was apolitical move made to attract home buyers to the town and county so that the prospective buyers would know that their children would not have to attend a low-performing predominately Black school and can attend a high-performing predominately white school. This is discriminatory.

Incident #5
I discovered that at Stewart Middle School, minority students are more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students. The Alternative school consists of a majority of minority students even though Minorities make up only 20% of the entire school district population. I spoke with the administrator in charge of the Alternative school and he verified that this is the case and has always been like that. He also shared with me that minority students are expelled and suspended at a rate much larger than white students. They stay at the alternative school longer and are less successful academically.


Local Contacts:
Ms. Anita Cobb Parent (770) 920-2321
Ms. H. Taylor Admin. (770) 577-0688
Ms Earnestin Abrams Teacher (770) 947-9644

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I only found this. I guess within the upcoming months there will be more bought to light about the situation.