In a 3-2 decision, the Laurens County school board voted to lessen the punishment of the five students who spelled out a racial slur.
Originally, the school administration recommended alternative school for the five students for the entire 2022-2023 school year. Raye Bloodworth attended the meeting. She says the five boys meant no harm.
"When a person uses that word, I don't see them speaking to me. I see it as a sign of ignorance, no matter whose mouth it come out of," Bloodworth said.
In the meeting, school board member Kathy Sweat made a motion to lessen the sentence to alternative school for the remaining rest of the first semester, 40 hours of communitive service and eight hours of diversity training. President Kenny Walters with NAACP of Dublin-Laurens County sent a statement to 13WMAZ stating:
"The Dublin-Laurens County NAACP doesn’t support the recent decision by the Laurens County Board of Education to reduce the punishment of the five (5) West Laurens students. The students posed for a photo while spelling out a racial slur painted on their chests. We find this to be unacceptable and disappointing. This decision sends the wrong message to the community and to the student body. We are calling for the resignations of all three (3) Board Members that voted to reduce the administrations recommendations for these five (5) students."
Once the five students complete the hours, they are able to return to school January 5th, 2023. The three board members who approved the discipline were Kevin Malone, Kathy Sweat and Tony Johnson. The members who did not approve the discipline were Kenny Payne and Jarvis Wilcher.
Willie Edwards also attended the board meeting. He says the five boys should be expelled and the diversity training needs to be monitored.
"The entire county, on the east side and west side, needs to go through some diversity training -- all of our students, not just these young men," Edwards said.
After the meeting, the parents of the five students and the school district superintendent Clifford Garnto held a private meeting. Garnto told 13WMAZ the meeting was about next steps in the decision. He says if the parents and the students are not pleased with the decision, they can appeal to the school board.
It was not discussed at the meeting how the community service and diversity training would be taught, monitored or evaluated.