it is happening. but i think that the desire to make sure that kids don t feel tokenized, that they can go to school and just focus on being in school and being a kid. i would never ever want my child to be the one black child in a classroom. wouldn t wish that on anybody. shortly after the poseys came forward, these mothers were part of a group of concerned black parents at the school who wrote a letter in support of briscoe. they asked us to conceal their identities because of ongoing threatening phone calls to the school in the wake of the segregation claims. they believe briscoe acted in good faith. if the race was used as a factor in the class placement, they say they are in full support. i grew up where i was the only black child in the honors classes in my high school for four years. and when i say that i still have trauma based on it, i still have traumais bad on it. it was very isolating. principal briscoe is a black woman, she went to a black college, she raised two b
coren. really appreciate that. an atlanta school community is at the center of an ongoing controversy after a mother claimed the principal was assigning black students to specific classes based on race. but many other parents are speaking up in defense of the principal. nick valencia has the story. reporter: mary lynn elementary is located in a predominantly white upper middle class neighborhood in atlanta. some parents in the district who would normally send their kids to private school choose instead to send them here, in large part they say because of sharon briscoe, a progressive principal who paths lobbied for years to hire. but it is briscoe s allegationed conversation about race based class placement practices that are now the focus of a civil rights complaint. she informed me that unit with a the black class. how did you react to that? a pit was in my stomach.
was he extremely concerned about the recent allegations. given it is an active investigation, however, miss briscoe is limited in what information she can share right now, but is looking forward to telling her side of the story at the appropriate time and place. in her response saying that she wanted to build community, do you think it was done in good faith on her part? i don t know. because for me, full stop, it is illegal. so i can t really get past if it is in good faith because it really doesn t matter at that point. it is wrong. reporter: we reached out to the department of education to see if they are going to pursue the posey s complaint but they haven t indicated one way or the other if they will. the poseys say that they want the leadership at mary lin elementary gone. meanwhile the atlanta public school district says that they will not be commenting on this case further beyond the statement that they have already provided. nick valencia, cnn, atlanta.
disclose the actions that they took telling cnn that they do not share details of personnel decisions. briscoe who is black remains the school s principal. i asked her why was she doing it and she said because she was building community and that is what she was doing. and i kept telling her that she was wrong. reporter: not everybody agrees with posey. some race relations experts believe that grouping students by race actually could create a healthier environment in classrooms. to be able to have that community inside your classroom can be comforting. reporter: could i are a banks, clinical psychologist, says there is psychological research supporting of idea of critical mass in the classroom for minority groups especially as a school like mary lin where black students make up an estimated 10% of the 599 students. to frame those classes as the black classes, that i think is problematic in the sense of how you frame it and how you articulate the intention and why
firs i was like what do you mean? reporter: of the six total second grade classes, kyla says that she was told by principal briscoe that black students including her daughter would only have a choice between two of the classes. in july, she and her husband who works as the school psychologist filed the federal complaint with the department of education. it may not be your 1950s segregation where you have signs above water fountains in rooms, but it is the same thing. reporter: atlanta public schools investigated saying that atlanta public schools does not condone assigning of students to classrooms based on race. as such, the district conducted a review concerning allegations of this conduct. at the conclusion of the review, appropriate actions were taken to address the issue and the matter was closed. a spokesman for a.p.s. would not