ClydeR
06-15-2021, 11:26 AM
Short version -- Two black students were announced as Valedictorian and Salutatorian based on QPA. Two white students had higher GPAs. The school handbook said GPA should be used. The school decided to have co-valedictorians and co-salutatorians, allowing the graduation attendees to enjoy four speeches. In the majority black town, everybody is still upset about it. Some people are saying that when white students were not chosen, the school changed its standards. The school says a new employee made an error by printing the QPA rankings, instead of GPA rankings. The graduation speeches are over, but the dispute lives on. Lawsuits are being threatened. Multiple school board meetings.
There are also scholarships at stake. The state gives a scholarship to the valedictorian and salutatorian from each high school.
You can watch an interview of the two black students at https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/two-black-students-were-forced-to-share-high-honors-after-white-parents-cried-error-114735685524
It has been portrayed in the NYT and the MSNBC interview as the two white students being sore losers. The two black students interviewed on MSNBC clearly think they were cheated.
At first, it seemed a joyous occasion. There was an audible gasp in the room, then boisterous cheering and applause when the announcement was made: Ikeria Washington and Layla Temple had been named 2021 valedictorian and salutatorian for West Point High School.
The president of the local N.A.A.C.P. in West Point, Miss., Anner Cunningham, smiled as the two young women, both standout students, were photographed. "It was a beautiful and proud moment to witness two young, Black ladies standing side by side given such honors," Ms. Cunningham said.
But almost immediately parents of other students near the top of the rankings raised questions about who should have been honored. Within days, and breaking with longstanding tradition, West Point High School decided to name two valedictorians and two salutatorians - with two white students, Emma Berry and Dominic Borgioli, joining the Black students who had already been named.
And in the nearly three weeks since that senior awards night, West Point, a mostly Black town in the northeastern part of the state, has been split largely along racial lines, roiled by a dispute that included threats, a potential lawsuit and allegations of racism posted on Facebook.
Officials say that race had nothing to do with the events in West Point, but instead blamed a mistake made by a school counselor resulting largely from a confusion over which of two methods for calculating final grades should have been used.
More... (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/us/west-point-high-school-valedictorian.html)
I still remember my valedictory speech from not long ago. I image people are still talking about it.
There are also scholarships at stake. The state gives a scholarship to the valedictorian and salutatorian from each high school.
You can watch an interview of the two black students at https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/two-black-students-were-forced-to-share-high-honors-after-white-parents-cried-error-114735685524
It has been portrayed in the NYT and the MSNBC interview as the two white students being sore losers. The two black students interviewed on MSNBC clearly think they were cheated.
At first, it seemed a joyous occasion. There was an audible gasp in the room, then boisterous cheering and applause when the announcement was made: Ikeria Washington and Layla Temple had been named 2021 valedictorian and salutatorian for West Point High School.
The president of the local N.A.A.C.P. in West Point, Miss., Anner Cunningham, smiled as the two young women, both standout students, were photographed. "It was a beautiful and proud moment to witness two young, Black ladies standing side by side given such honors," Ms. Cunningham said.
But almost immediately parents of other students near the top of the rankings raised questions about who should have been honored. Within days, and breaking with longstanding tradition, West Point High School decided to name two valedictorians and two salutatorians - with two white students, Emma Berry and Dominic Borgioli, joining the Black students who had already been named.
And in the nearly three weeks since that senior awards night, West Point, a mostly Black town in the northeastern part of the state, has been split largely along racial lines, roiled by a dispute that included threats, a potential lawsuit and allegations of racism posted on Facebook.
Officials say that race had nothing to do with the events in West Point, but instead blamed a mistake made by a school counselor resulting largely from a confusion over which of two methods for calculating final grades should have been used.
More... (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/us/west-point-high-school-valedictorian.html)
I still remember my valedictory speech from not long ago. I image people are still talking about it.