Everman principal steps down over racial remarks

A high school principal has left her position two weeks after singling out black students' poor test scores over the school's intercom system.

[Malvern Davis]

The black students probably did score lower but whose fault is it really? It goes back to the blacks being denied any education at all, then they were allowed a segregated education using outdated white school reject books, then they were integrated. By then, they were so far behind that the teachers in the "white" newly integrated schools had to really cut back on expectations and lower the standards to allow the black students to pass from one grade to another. That happened when I first started teaching about 30 years ago. I remembered that we were all just trying to help. Now we are raising the standards back up and it is so hard to do. The black students are not dumb or less than at all. They just never had the background and all the chances that the whites have always had and take for granted. I am now retired and look back on the whole thing and can see very clearly what happened when we integrated. None of this should have ever happened. But it did. Slavery was so evil. I tried to make a difference in education. I wonder if I ever really did.

[Hale Bopp]

Oh please, if momma and daddy would be active in their childrens education, they would have been successful. The problem lies within the fact that momma is probably 25 and daddy is not around. Children with 2 parents are more likely to be sucessful no matter what race. There has been a devaluation of marriage and family in the black community. Blame 'the man' game is over. It is now time for the black community to raise up.

I heard something on the radio yesterday morning that made alot of sense.....

Name the person that speaks for the white community, name the person that speaks for the chinese community, do the same for the Korean, Japanese, Indian, Pakastani, etc.....can you name one? Why is it that the black community needs a leader or speaker. This fact means that something is wrong with the community if everyone needs a leader and everyone wants to be a follower.

I know black kids that were never segregated or never knew what it really meant but they are successful....both parents were in the house. Blacks have the same rights (if not more now) than whites but by every statistic, blacks are more likely not to marry and are at a higher risk of divorce than whites....now explain away that statistic.

[Boyd Banks]

If the government segregates the grades, and the school isn't at least allowed to tell the truth about the scores, then what the hell is wrong with this country?

1: Grades shouldn't be segregated at all. Minorities should be treated just like everyone else: Equal. Not below, and (This is becoming more and more true) not above. All men are created equal, and the door swings both ways.
2: The scores don't lie, but the principal should? Come on. If the black kids are making Fs and the rest of the races are making As, then is she supposed to lie and say everyone is making (Fs or As)? No. I respect her for what she did, she stood up for the truth, not political Correction. And all the students that want to cry about being singled out, need to stop singling themselves out. Make better grades! Go study! Don't blame the principal because your race is the one making bad grades.

[Debbie Bryant]

[Malvern, you really need to quit blaming yourself or feeling guilty for things that you have absolutely no control over. It's for certain that slavery was evil, but neither you nor I had a hand in that. I'm a school teacher, like you. What I saw when I taught in Everman last year was that there were many many bright capable students, just like in all schools. There were also quite a few "hoodlums" just like in all schools. Yes, most of them were African American, but only because African Americans are the predominant race in the school. What I truly believe is, barring any learning disability, the attitude of the student toward authority and learning -- regardless of color -- has more to do with the attitude of parents. It became all too clear to me when I made the required phone calls to parents. Some parents were respectful, some acted exactly like their disrespectful children. Some indicated that they worried about what their children were learning, others didn't have a clue as to what classes their children even had. Most wanted their children to get a good education. Yes, the math and science scores are too low, but they are too low state and nationwide as well. Somehow parents are going to have to find a way to become stricter with their own children. They must demand higher standards of behavior and academic achievement at home before it can successfully be addressed in school. Parents must quit worrying about whether their children's rights are being violated because educators want them to dress and behave in a civilized manner. When parents become involved, once again, in their children's lives and education, that's when the racial disparity in the TAKS results will disappear. It is NOT the fault of the science and math teachers in Everman. I know them and I believe that any school district would be lucky to have them

Malvern Davis wrote:

The black students probably did score lower but whose fault is it really? It goes back to the blacks being denied any education at all, then they were allowed a segregated education using outdated white school reject books, then they were integrated. By then, they were so far behind that the teachers in the "white" newly integrated schools had to really cut back on expectations and lower the standards to allow the black students to pass from one grade to another. That happened when I first started teaching about 30 years ago. I remembered that we were all just trying to help. Now we are raising the standards back up and it is so hard to do. The black students are not dumb or less than at all. They just never had the background and all the chances that the whites have always had and take for granted. I am now retired and look back on the whole thing and can see very clearly what happened when we integrated. None of this should have ever happened. But it did. Slavery was so evil. I tried to make a difference in education. I wonder if I ever really did.

[LazyButtParentsL isten]

I was at a car shop one day when a mother and small son were waiting for tires to be changed. The boy asked mom to read to him. She responded by yanking the magazine from his hand, saying "I'm busy", then she proceeded to sit and watch the television set. THAT child will, I guarantee it, grow up to be less than successful. Color doesn't matter, but generational ignorance is. When a child grows up expecting a handout but not quality time, expecting welfare but not hard work, they will get exactly what they've been taught to expect. This little boy sees that watching TV is of far more value than time or reading. I hope I never get that little boy in my class, because then I'll have to deal with the mother who is at fault, and then I'd be blamed in the media for doing an inadequate job. It is, unfortunately, becoming a race issue....check out the welfare rolls. Check out the unwed, underage pregnancies (and the resulting dropouts). It is most definitely a certain group of people who make up the majority of the welfare rolls, the prison rolls, and the dropout rolls. See for yourself.

[Sandy Henderson]

I am 62 years old and I remember the discipline and respect teachers expected from their students; discipline and respect they do not have today. We were expected to behave, pay attention and do our work. If we had a problem, we were expected to pay attention when we asked the teacher for help. Teachers taught on the same level for the entire class. Parents were also involved and took their child's education seriously. Integration has given us a very different educational system than the one I grew up with. Teachers could no longer teach students on the same educational level, as the incoming African-American students were unfortunately already on a lower educational level. In order for the teacher to be able to teach at all, lesson plans had to be developed to teach down to the lowest common factor. While this method aided even the slowest learner, it stiffled the student caught in the middle and bored the student for whom learning came easily. My sister-in-law taught 2nd grade for many years; she finally quit because papers sent home for parent signature were never returned; phone calls were never returned; parent conferences - the parent never attended. There is a breakdown of responsibility in the African-American family, and until it is addressed, all students will suffer.

[Gringo]

I think the end result of that poor woman having to step down was absurd. I can buy into that blacks have lower grades because of a perpetual action. But the sensitivity of race needs to end. Everything that woman said that day was accurate. The scores for negro students was lower than was acceptable. But, that didn't have anything to do with her. I would have been fine if she was fired for her lack of decisive action to get the school to passing, but that wasn't the case. As long as we tip toe through racial sensitivity and allow ourselves to see a difference in color and permit stereotypes. Then all we will ever expect is a declining status quo.

[MJM]

Do any of you go into high schools today? If a black student excels, they are ridiculed by other blacks and called "crackers or whitey" or worse.

There is shame in failure. It's why the Asians can come to this country, work their tails off, and quietly succeed when they didn't know any English upon arriving.

When are people within the black community going to stand up and say what Bill Cosby or J.C. Watts or Clarence Thomas have been saying without derision?
When are people like Lynn Swann or Micheal Steele able to show successful examples without oreos being thrown?

What have the democrats done for blacks except for taking them for granted as a guaranteed vote? Like Hillary said, you're on the plantation. Gotta love white liberals talking down to blacks, huh?

[Anonymous]

In my opinion Everman is nothing but a cesspool of thugs, so who cares? If you want a better education pay for private school.-Just my opinion.

[Gringo]

Because those thugs make more thugs. Eventually they will get out of hand and start demanding more money from our government. They will continue in their thuggish behavior and eventually the thugs and thugettes will be crowded into our neighborhoods since they already complained in force about being put in government housing. They will make life miserable for everyone if they aren't taught to not be thugs.

[Sick of BS]

MJM,
Your answer shows how totally ignorant people really are. First you say if a black student succeeds he or she is talked down to by his or her peers. THEN you blame the white liberals talking down to blacks. So...are you saying that nobody likes or respects a successful black student? For what it's worth, I'd say the 'white liberals' are simply stating the facts (in this case, the black students were not successful, PERIOD). That isn't talking down to them. That's the FACTS black and white. Just a thought.

[Gringo]

Sick of BS wrote:

MJM,
Your answer shows how totally ignorant people really are. First you say if a black student succeeds he or she is talked down to by his or her peers. THEN you blame the white liberals talking down to blacks. So...are you saying that nobody likes or respects a successful black student? For what it's worth, I'd say the 'white liberals' are simply stating the facts (in this case, the black students were not successful, PERIOD). That isn't talking down to them. That's the FACTS black and white. Just a thought.

When have negroes ever been sucesptable to criticism?

[MJM]

James Meredith, the last black student in the last integrated college, Ole Miss had a statement: "My biggest obstacle has been the white liberal"

Sick of BS wrote:

MJM,
Your answer shows how totally ignorant people really are. First you say if a black student succeeds he or she is talked down to by his or her peers. THEN you blame the white liberals talking down to blacks. So...are you saying that nobody likes or respects a successful black student? For what it's worth, I'd say the 'white liberals' are simply stating the facts (in this case, the black students were not successful, PERIOD). That isn't talking down to them. That's the FACTS black and white. Just a thought.

[Sick of BS]

I'm sure there's a point there somewhere. Or an excuse. I'm not really sure.

[Anonymous]

I know about Everman... The school board should set up a tutoring classes for parents and kids. I bet only a few would would show up. But the football games you can't find a place to sit. Hummm.... let see education or sports?

[Sick of BS]

Hey it's Texas. Sports always come first. Teachers are even 'encouraged' to change grades so the kids who earn failing grades are given passing grades so they can play. And then they can't pass the TAKS. Hmmm isn't it interesting.

[Anonymous]

I'm very surprised at some of the responses on this board. I am very familiar with Everman, I was a student there in the early eighties. They were prejudice then and they are prejudice now. Yes, I do agree that parents could be more involved with their child's education however if the teacher's think the way that some of the people on this message board thinks then I see the problem. African American students are just as bright as any other student just give them the chance no teacher should think that just if a student is black they are not as smart as the white student and MRS. CULBERTSON SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED INSTANTLY!!!

[Kori Johnson]

seeing how I know this woman and has dealt with the way she conducts herself on the job, I know that she didn't mean to single them out in the way she did. If those test scores weren't divided up like that in the first place, she wouldn't have read them the way she did. I personally belieive she dislikes students and it isn't based on their race. I am definitely glad she is gone.

Malvern Davis wrote:

The black students probably did score lower but whose fault is it really? It goes back to the blacks being denied any education at all, then they were allowed a segregated education using outdated white school reject books, then they were integrated. By then, they were so far behind that the teachers in the "white" newly integrated schools had to really cut back on expectations and lower the standards to allow the black students to pass from one grade to another. That happened when I first started teaching about 30 years ago. I remembered that we were all just trying to help. Now we are raising the standards back up and it is so hard to do. The black students are not dumb or less than at all. They just never had the background and all the chances that the whites have always had and take for granted. I am now retired and look back on the whole thing and can see very clearly what happened when we integrated. None of this should have ever happened. But it did. Slavery was so evil. I tried to make a difference in education. I wonder if I ever really did.

[missing Texas]

I am a high school teacher in Arkansas and I must say that this problem is nation-wide. African American students score lower on literacy exams, but it is more of a socio-economic problem than it is a race problem. What's really beginning to frighten many educators is the fact that teachers are being held responsible for the students' performance on the state exams. In Arkansas, the state expects ALL students to perform proficient (which is the same as saying ALL students will play football and ALL students will perform ALL plays and make touchdowns and field goals properly) and has given the schools a deadline for meeting this standard. If it isn't met, then the state comes in and takes over.

My question is this: If we cannot control the foundational education a child received - birth to 4 years - then how can we possibly be held accountable for how the child performs for the rest of his/her life? Parents MUST step-up and make sure the foundation is there for teachers to build upon.

[blacksheep34]

Well since weve become a nation of victims and hypocrites...you get the picture...Al Sharpton is more racist than average white people.This country,if you want it,you go get it.
I have the liberals blamed for alot(ill-legal immigration)but never have I before today that they hold the black man down...What crap!