Mississippi School Reverses Its Race-Specific Election Policy

Nettleton Middle School, which distributed materials stipulating specific races’ eligibility for middle school elections, is ending the policy, saying it was a rotation implemented 30 years ago to ensure diversity.

A new mother at the school, Brandy Springer, had complained about the policy, which also excluded her daughter, who is half-white and Native American. Her two younger children are white and African American. She has since withdrawn her kids from the school.

Here’s the statement from Nettleton’s school superintendent:

After being notified of a grievance regarding upcoming student elections at Nettleton Middle School, research was conducted that evidenced that the current practices and procedures for student elections have existed for over 30 years. It is the belief of the current administration that these procedures were implemented to help ensure minority representation and involvement in the student body. It is felt the intent of these election procedures was to ensure African-American representation in each student office category through an annual rotation basis.

It is our hope and desire that these practices and procedures are no longer needed to help ensure minority representation and involvement. Furthermore, the Nettleton School District acknowledges and embraces the fact that we are growing in ethnic diversity and that the classifications of Caucasian and African-American no longer reflect our entire student body.

Therefore, beginning immediately, student elections at Nettleton School District will no longer have a classification of ethnicity. It is our intent that each student has equal opportunity to seek election for any student office. Future student elections will be monitored to help ensure that this change in process and procedure does not adversely affect minority representation in student elections.

The previous statement by the school had not indicated the rotation aspect of the policy; though it’s still incredibly problematic, they might have saved themselves a bit of trouble by clarifying it from the outset. As many suspected when we wrote about this policy and the school’s segregated homecoming kings and queens, this is likely an attempt to ensure “diversity” gone terribly wrong.

Earlier: Middle School Only Allows Whites To Be Class President
Racist Middle School Has A Black Principal