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Atlanta-based mom, Kiley Posey has filed a major civil rights complaint against the U.S. Department of Education. The Black mother of two alleges that the Department intentionally placed her children along with other Black students in separate classrooms from their white peers.
According to Posey’s attorney Sharese Sheilds, the incident occurred during the 2020-2021 academic year at Mary Lin Elementary School in Atlanta, where her two children attend.
“To our knowledge, (the principal) designated these black classes without the knowledge or consent of the families of the affected black students. Instead, she unilaterally decided what was in the best interests of the black students, relegating them to only those classes she deemed appropriate,” Posey’s legal team detailed in a complaint written on July 22.
“Meanwhile, the placement of white students was not restricted; they were able to be placed in any of the six-second grade classes,” she said.
CNN notes the assistant principal at the school admitted that she was aware of the separate and unequal classrooms however, she attributed the unjust decision to the school having fewer Black students. “Class lists are always tough” the principal stated, according to the complaint.
Data from the Georgia Department of Education shows that only 60 students out of the elementary school’s academic student body, totally 599, are Black. “The second-grade class has 98 students, 12 of whom are Black and 81 are White,” CNN adds.
“In addition, I would like APS (Atlanta Public Schools) to remove the entire leadership team at Mary Lin,” Posey wrote in her request.
“The Administrators there have demonstrated poor professional judgment by instituting this discriminatory practice and subsequently engaging in retaliatory acts. As such, they should not be trusted to make educational decisions for my child or any other children.”
The former Atlanta public school employee told officials that she and her husband have been hit with a number of retaliatory acts since she filed the complaint. Posey says her husband, who has been a school psychologist at Mary Lin Elementary for eight years is now being forced to transfer to a different school. Additionally, the principal has allegedly issued a warning to Posey who offers Mary Lin services through her company The Club After School, an after-school program initiative offered to APS and DeKalb County School District students.
