the rainbow ain't enuf

Only Tascosa High School received the state's lowest rating among campuses in Potter and Randall counties, but ratings do not show the whole picture, an official with Amarillo Independent School District said.

…

Tascosa received the academically unacceptable rating because less than 45 percent of black students passed the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Only 38 percent of the 154 black students who took the exam passed.

"That is why the entire campus missed being acceptable," Amarillo ISD spokeswoman Becky McIlraith said. "You've got to go deeper. You've really got to understand what's going on."

…

"It's all about looking at each individual child," McIlraith said. "Some students just need more one-on-one attention."

Oh . My. God.

What folks just have to understand is that Tascosa has a lot of nigras in attendance. Our nice white kids did just fine but them black boys brought us all down. Fortunately, Bush’s Supreme Court is working on overturning Brown vs. the Board of Education so Amarillo can put our colored back where they belong.

This excuse is entirely unacceptable to me, both as a parent and as a human being. I choose to live in Tascosa school district because it is the only interesting part of town, in part because of its diversity. And I believe that my son will be better off for the experience of attending a diverse school.

Furthermore, I teach in a diverse school. Many of my students have only recently learned English. And we are not ranked unacceptable nor do we use our diversity as an excuse. Instead, we seek out solutions that are appropriate for our student body. As a sheltered/ESL teacher, I have been a part of one of those solutions for the past two years

The Tascosa cluster, AISD, and Becky McIlraith owe an apology to the Tascosa community, African-Americans, and Amarillo at large.

spacedark