Two of four McComb school board members on Tuesday voted against a plan to comply with a federal judge’s order to discontinue using race as a basis to assign homerooms to elementary students.
Failure to approve the plan, which board attorney Ashley Atkinson said is supposed to be submitted by May 21, could put the district in contempt of court.
Superintendent Therese Palmertree, acting on a recent court order by U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee, recommended that trustees approve the student management software program known as SAM61 for Otken and Kennedy elementary schools. The program has the capability of making random homeroom class assignments with no regard to race.
Some students, however, would still be moved to other classrooms for extended reading instruction, based on their level of achievement.
At last week’s work session, school board president and retired teacher Bettye Nunnery said she had a problem defining the term “homeroom” as stated in the judge’s order. And she said she did not believe Success For All, one of the district’s reading programs that has been used for at least a decade, was “doing a very good job.”
On Tuesday, Nunnery said she would not vote for Palmertree’s proposed plan because she, and the community at-large, didn’t have enough information about it. She did not cite specific arguments with the plan.
“I cannot vote for this … based on a lack of education,” Nunnery said.
Palmertree said she’s only trying to follow the court order.
“This is what the judge wants us to do,” Palmertree said.
“I don’t care what the judge wants,” Nunnery replied.
Dr. Shade Quin then made the motion to approve the plan, and Dr. Kent Kebert seconded it. Nunnery voted against it, as did trustee Eleice Rayborn. Trustee Maurice Chester, who would have cast the tie-breaking vote, was ill and unable to attend.
Chester also was absent for the work session.
Before the vote, Rayborn said she was concerned about language arts classes, which could see students in separate grades being in the same classroom because of their level of achievement.
“I just wanted more clarification on that in terms of language arts,” Rayborn said today, adding that she’ll be meeting with Palmertree to get a clearer understanding of the instruction process.
The district must submit a plan of compliance with Lee’s order within 45 calendar days prior to its implementation. The judge will study the plan and make any further recommendations.
If the district fails to send in the plan by the deadline, Atkinson said the district would be held in contempt of court, and school trustees would most likely be called to appear before Lee.
