Father holds his elementary school age sons by the hand while he goes to school
Source: Courtney Hale / Getty
Atlanta-based mother Kiley Posey has filed a serious civil rights lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education. The black mother of two claims the department intentionally placed her children with other black students in separate classrooms from their white peers.
According to Posey’s attorney Sharese Shelds, the incident occurred in the 2020-2021 school year at the Mary Lin Elementary School in Atlanta, which is attended by her two children.
“To the best of our knowledge (the headmaster) named these black classes without the knowledge or consent of the families of the black students involved. Instead, she unilaterally decided what was in the best interests of the black students and only sent them back to the classes she deemed appropriate, ”said Posey’s legal team in a July 22 complaint.
“In the meantime, the placement of white students was not restricted; they could be placed in any of the six-second grades, ”she said.
CNN notes that the school’s assistant principal admitted she was aware of segregated and unequal classrooms, but attributed the unfair decision to the school’s fewer black students. “Class lists are always tough,” says the headmaster’s complaint.
Data from the Georgia Department of Education shows that only 60 students in the elementary school academic body, 599 total, are black. “The second grade has 98 students, including 12 blacks and 81 white,” adds CNN.
“I would also like the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) to remove all of Mary Lin’s leadership team,” Posey wrote in her request.
“The administrators there have shown poor professional judgment by introducing this discriminatory practice and then retaliatory. Therefore, they should not be trusted to make educational decisions for my child or other children. “
The former Atlanta public school clerk told officials that she and her husband have had a number of retaliatory acts since the complaint was filed. Posey says her husband, who has been a school psychologist at Mary Lin Elementary for eight years, has now been forced to move to another school. In addition, Headmistress Posey allegedly issued a warning that Mary Lin is offering services through her company, The Club After School, an after-school program initiative offered to APS and DeKalb County School District students.
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