The Oxford School Board apologized after the superintendent was quoted saying the board would consider building a new, opt-in school that would segregate low-income students.
OSD released a full statement Friday, insuring parents the district had no intention of re-segregating after close to 20 parents and several grandparents voiced their concern at the meeting and an estimated 200 people protested the night before.
“The district has no plans to create a separate school for free/reduced lunch or any other group of students. We will not tolerate segregation on the basis of socioeconomic status or race,” the board said in a statement released last Friday.
As the meeting came to an end, Superintendent Brian Harvey personally apologized to the parents present. More than 10 attendees used Facebook Live to broadcast the event, including the apology.
“If my words or the phrase ‘separate, but equal’ offended anyone, I am truly sorry,” Harvey said. “That was not my intention. (The board is) here today talking about this issue of closing the achievement gap because I have pushed hard and I have been apart of this district for 21 years and we have not taken significant steps to do that.”
Harvey said when he made the statement, he was not referring to what Oxford School District would do, but was describing what other schools across the nation had done to close their own achievement gaps.
Harvey said OSD’s achievement gap is the largest in the state and continues to grow despite the district being referred to by state officials as one of the top performing districts in the state.
Alex Coleman, a local tutor for Operation Life Vision, was the first to speak up at the special meeting.
Coleman said he thought Harvey’s apology was sincere, but the board needs to make extra effort to be sensitive to the Oxford community.
“You have to use a better choice of words,” Coleman said.
According to the high school newspaper, The Charger, Harvey invited John Hodge of the Urban Learning and Leadership Center, an organization focused on improving educational performance of poorer students.
Hodge met with the board to give a presentation on their services and to discuss the possibility of adding an additional school to the district for low-income students who qualify for free or reduced lunches. The separate school also offered longer hours and more intensive education support to students.
In the article, Harvey was quoted as saying the ULLC program was not separate, but equal, it was “separate, but more.”
After the article began making traction online, community members and graduates of Oxford High began voicing their opinions on social media, calling the idea “segregation.”
For students to qualify for free or reduced lunches, the household must currently receive benefits from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or if the household cares for a foster child. Breakfast is free everyday, regular lunch price is $2.75 and reduced lunch costs 40 cents.
The OSD Child Nutrition Report from May shows that 48.6 percent of the district’s students received free or reduced lunches, a 3.2 percent increase since August of 2015, according to the district’s report. The student population for OSD is more than 4,200.
Out of the 146 school districts in the state, OSD was one of 19 districts to receive an ‘A’ on the statewide assessment tests for the 2014-2015 school year.
School Board Secretary Gray Edmondson said the formal search for an achievement gap closer has been in the works for months and will take many additional months to find a working model that suits OSD.
According to Edmondson, ideas to raise achievement come from administration and teachers within the district.
Edmondson said there is no definite number of methods or programs the board will review.
The district plans to look at a variety of options including community school methods and specialized curriculum.
“I don’t know how to express my emotions concerning this ‘opt-in’ school for low income students in the Oxford School District,” Chad Knight, Oxford High School graduate, wrote in a Facebook post.
Knight, who is currently a senior business management major at Ole Miss, said he understands the need for a better educational programs, but singling out lower-income students means singling out African-American students.
“I am extremely disappointed,” Knight said in his post. “I know there are other measures that can be taken to close the achievement gap.”
Knight said he was not at the protest later that day, but he does plan to attend the next OSD School Board meeting Monday, Oct. 10 with a group of concerned community members.
Additionally, there will be a community meeting at 6 p.m. today at the Tallahatchie-Oxford Missionary Baptist Association to discuss the event.
