Black Mother Files Discrimination Complaint Against Atlanta School After Child Was Allegedly Segregated Based On Her Race

A Black mother has filed a discrimination complaint against an Atlanta school, claiming her child and other Black students were segregated based on their race.

Kila Posey has filed a federal discrimination complaint against Mary Lin Elementary School after she says the institution placed her child and other Black students in segregated classrooms.

“We’ve lost sleep like trying to figure out why would a person do this,” Posey told WSB-TV. “First, it was just disbelief that I was having this conversation in 2020 with a person that looks just like me — a Black woman. It’s segregating classrooms. You cannot segregate classrooms. You can’t do it.”

The alleged segregation reportedly happened last year under the school’s principal Sharyn Briscoe, also Black. “My community, had they known about this, would probably be extremely upset. Not just the Black parents but also White parents,” Posey added.

Posey says Black students were put in two classes with two different teachers while their white counterparts were placed in six classes with six different teachers. The mother says it wasn’t until she asked Briscoe to put her child in a class with a teacher she was fond of that she found out about the alleged segregation.

“She said that’s not one of the Black classes, and I immediately said, ‘What does that mean?’ I was confused. I asked for more clarification. I was like, ‘We have those in the school?’ And she proceeded to say, ‘Yes. I have decided that I’m going to place all of the Black students in two classes,'” said Posey.

The mother says Briscoe told her that her child would be isolated if placed in a white classroom. “I explained to her she shouldn’t be isolated or punished because I’m unwilling to go along with your illegal and unethical practice,” Posey said. The decision to have separate classes was allegedly a decision made by Briscoe.

The complaint was filed against the school with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. “Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 says that you cannot treat one group of people differently based upon race, and that is what is going on at Mary Lin,” said Posey’s lawyer, Sharese Shields.