Residents, NAACP critical of Henry County School Board
Max Oden /
Henry County Residents, right, watch a presentation by Henry County Schools Superintendant Dennis Coe, left, Thursday evening in Abbeville.
ABBEVILLE - The president of the Henry County branch of the NAACP and members of a group calling itself “Concerned Citizens of Henry County” criticized the Henry County School Board at Thursday’s board meeting, saying the county is suffering a “compound fracture.”
“We are disturbed that the people of Henry County are allowed no input, as evidenced in the recent decisions that have outraged many citizens,” said Henry County NAACP President Dorothea Culver.
The most controversial of those decisions involves the non-renewal of the contracts of several teachers who were later replaced by new employees.
According to some Abbeville residents, the personnel changes made a negative impact in their school.
“The school has changed, and it is not a good one,” said Tanya Balkhan of the Concerned Citizens of Henry County. “I have visited the school on occasions, and I see that it is not a good environment for the students or teachers. There were some positive employees at the school who worked very well with the students and the parents. Some of these employees were not hired back, and we don’t know why.”
One of the group’s representatives suggested the teachers were fired for personal reasons.
“We believe it’s a case of not being liked or not conforming their beliefs,” said Latravia Horn. “If a teacher isn’t deemed accountable, shouldn’t their observation report reflect that? When given a recommendation for nonrenewal of a teacher, do you review their observations?”
Henry County School Superintendent Dennis Coe said teacher evaluations don’t affect the hiring process.
“It’s generally left up to the principals to make an end-of-year recommendation to me, and I put it in written form to the board,” Coe said. “We do monthly walkthroughs at every school and classroom, and we do impromptu visits with the school.”
The concerned citizens also discussed unfair treatment of students in the school system.
“We have a problem of staff members rendering different punishments for same offenses. It all depends on who you are,” said Shaenaea Stanford. “The school system has scarred our children physically and mentally when it could have been avoided if someone would just take time to listen. These people that you hired are stereotyping our children.”
Horn said the mistreatment sends the wrong message to students.
“These are not seeds we need to be planted in our children,” she said.
Those negative seeds are already being reaped, according to Stanford.
“It’s sad to hear children say they don’t think they learned anything from Abbeville High School, but just got a degree,” she said.
Culver gave the board what seemed to be an ultimatum.
“There are several things broken here that need to be corrected. You can begin by calling back all the employees you let go at the end of this school year, including the non-tenured teachers,” she said. “If this does not happen, the next thing we will look at is forcing some oversight or sanctions on the board.”
According to Coe, some of the complaints are unfair.
“Some of it was in reference to nonrenewal of minority teachers. Of the teachers not renewed in henry County, only 21 percent, three employees, were minority teachers,” Coe said. “They were replaced with minority teachers. The total number of minority teachers in this county hasn’t changed. And of those not renewed last year, 80 percent were white and 20 percent were minorities.”
Coe told the concerned citizens he would address each of their concerns in writing.
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Reader Reactions
First of all, I would like to say that I am a white teacher that was unfairly let go from the Henry County Schools. I for one am just glad that someone (even if it is seen as racially motivated) stood up to the Board for the intolerable misconduct! I personally know 2 of the black teachers let go & both were EXCELLENT educators. They were peaceful, colleagues that truely cared for the individual students that came through their classrooms. I also know that at Headland Elementary, there is now only one black teacher. Is that fair?
Out of the 27 employees that were let go, the black community were the only ones that had any public support to back the injustice that was dealt to them. Where is the public support for the white teachers that were let go?! Before you spat racial motive, how about standing up for your own? I don’t think it is because the 80% of white teachers let go, were bad. It was because no one cared enough about them to make a stand. The white community is too tolerant and unwilling to make waves. There are a select few of us that actually stand up for anything important.
I do not believe I was let go because I was a bad teacher. This is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a little girl. I graduated with reccomendations from 3 of my college professors and a wonderful letter from my interning teacher. I am highly qualified and loved my students, parents, grade group team, and job. I usually stayed until 5:30 or later everyday, and would come back on Sunday afternoons - just to make sure I was ready. I never complained about my students to administration, I dealt with my discipline problems in my classroom, and I know I had a positive impact on my students.
I am glad that the NAACP put the Board into a corner! They deserve to be put on the hot plate! How would you feel if you were sent a certified letter in the mail to inform you that you no longer had a job 1 month before your contract ran out? What if you weren’t given a reason for you termination; not even given the courtesy of being called in the office and told by your “boss” that they were letting you go? Add to that, if all of your evaluations were good, and by word from the Vice Principal, “you have nothing to worry about,“ you thought you had a future at that institution? Then as a slap in the face, the last weeks of school, you saw the public announcement for applications to fill your position in the office, on the same board you sign in and out of everyday?
I am sure that there were a few teachers that were let go because of poor performance, but I also know that there were several let go because they weren’t liked by their principal or vice principal. I completely agree that both schools in Henry County run their schools, based on a who-likes-who system rather than a who is good for the school. I firmly believe the reason I wasn’t renewed was because I don’t fit a “Barbie-like” style and don’t have the kiss up personality that this system desires of their clones.
I felt justification when I saw the story on the front of page of the newspaper. The only thing that would have been better, is if someone would have stood up for me and my other white colleagues. You have no idea how humilating it is to be treated so worthlessly & then to have the one vendicating article put down due to “racial intolerance.“
I believe that God is in control and that I will find a better school. However, I hope the NAACP sticks it to the Board and doesn’t back down. Henry County (or Payton Place) has been run too long by popularity votes & I hope to see it put in its place.
Also note that some of the good teachers are not just minority.
Before anyone take things out of context. Please attend the meeting of the Henry County Cooncerned Citizens group. There are some real problems in the School System. Not just discipline or the fact that minority teachers were fired.
Wow, this is quite amusing. As a graduate of Abbeville High School, I personally IN MY OPINION see the problem starting at the beginning. The fact that some techers cannot handle the children is what causes the education level to drop. If you have a handful of kids that have to be tended to because they arn’t taught any better in the home then you are taking away from the time the teachers should be using to teach instead of chastise and babysit. Now, I see that first and formost this has turned out to be a RACIAL ISSUE. As with EVERYTHING.. it ALWAYS turns out to be a RACIAL ISSUE. But, there isn’t anything that can be done to fix that of course.
This is a perfect example of what’s wrong in society today. We have people that believe that just because you are a certain color, then that means you are great at what you do and should never be fired. If this argument that these teachers were fired because of race had any validity, it lost it due to the fact that minority teachers were hired to replace the ones let go. My question is what would be the reaction to a group of white people getting together and protesting that 80% of white teachers were let go. You won’t see that because white people understand that if a teacher is not doing their job, then they might be let go…no matter what color they are. Btw, how do you think these teachers are going to act when they have guests around. Of course, they are going to make sure they look like they are doing a good job. It’s only the people that see them day in and day out that can really tell what kind of teachers they really are. And how dare you, Mrs. Culver for placing an ultimatum on the board. Why do you think you know more than they do? Are you there everyday and see these teachers teach all the time? No. Are you just a black woman that thinks that no black person should be fired even if it means it hurts our young kids education? I’m willing to be on it. Please, “Concerned Citizens of Henry County”, concern yourself with more important things. I grew up in Abbeville and hate to see that it has sunk this low.
I’m sorry Mrs. Culver, since when did you become the defacto superintendent of the school. Who gives you the right to tell the school board and the superintendent what to do? In my opinion people like yourself give the NAACP a bad name with your list of demands. I’m not even one that likes to talk about people I don’t even know, but you sure have no problem doing it. I say that because you obviously don’t know what Mr. Coe has had to put up with and still maintains a sense of dignity and professionalism. So, take your list of demands and put them somewhere where the sunlight can’t shine on them.
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