School principal denies allegations of racism

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Lucaya International School in Grand Bahama is being accused by a parent of racial discrimination and unfair treatment in a dispute over the recent selection of the head girl.

The school denies that there is any racial bias by its staff towards black students.

The institution, the only international school on the island, said it has a student body comprised 60 per cent of black students and has given $3.5m in scholarships to local Bahamians.

Headmaster/principal Michael Lowery told The Tribune yesterday that the allegations are not true. “I don’t believe the allegations are true, I feel like our staff goes above and beyond for all students,” he said.

According to reports in a local paper, a parent claimed that black students are being treated unfairly and discriminated against at the school. The mother alleged that, during the recent selection of the school’s head girl, her daughter was voted the clear favourite by students, but was not selected for the position because the school’s staff had voted against her. She noted that it was not first instance of discrimination regarding her daughter and claims that there are other parents of black students who also feel their children have been treated unfairly.

Mr Lowery said it is the first time “to the best of his knowledge” that any such allegations have been made by parents at the school. “Black students are not being treated differently, said Mr Lowery, the principal of four years.

He indicated that the current head boy and head girl are black Bahamians, and that the school’s 18-year history will show that 75 per cent of its head boys and head girls have been Bahamians and 25 per cent other nationalities.

Mr Lowery said that the student who was elected head girl is white and insists that the process was fair. He said that the voting results stated by the mother in the Freeport News article were inaccurate. “The mother said it was 59 per cent – that is not accurate,” Mr Lowery said. “We don’t know where that number came from.”

He explained that, unlike most of the schools in Grand Bahama where the vote for head boy and girl is selected by the teachers, LIS uses a mixture of votes from the students and staff. “We allow students to vote and the staff, and we mix the two together. I believe other schools have a practice of taking only the staff vote,” he added.

“I don’t think the staff believes the allegations in the article, or discriminate against students. Sixty per cent of the students at the school are Bahamians and 40 per cent other – we are an international school and we have students from 29 countries here.”

“I am disappointed that a parent is out there making these accusations, especially the second parent who I have never talked to before. I feel like we always had an open rapport with our parents.”

Mr Lowery said that Lucaya International School (LIS) has 100 per cent graduation rate and university acceptance rate.

“We are the only school on the island that can boast of those numbers. Our Board of Directors gave out $250,000 in scholarships to local students, and our school in the last 18 years has given about $3.5 million in scholarships to local Bahamian students. It is hard for me to fathom that we are not doing our part to make Grand Bahama a better place,” he said.

Comments

sheeprunner12 says...

Just a perfect example of the two-tiered, unequal system of education that we have ....... one for 'us' and one for 'them' ............... these so-called elite or charter schools exacerbate an already discriminatory system of education based on colour, class, ethnicity, surname, wealth and "who-u-know" in our country ......... that is why the Ministry of Education is a big joke when it comes to setting these unrealistic standards for (public & private) education .......... 90% of those who go to public school are statistically disqualified from higher education from Day 1 .......... thus some blacks have to tolerate the bigotry of private schools for their children to have a fighting chance in this country ......... that is so, so wrong to be happening in the 21st century under a so-called black-friendly government

Posted 19 May 2016, 2:31 p.m. Suggest removal

themessenger says...

Why is it that we have to interject race into everything in this country? Another reason why we will never become a meritocracy so long we keep blaming our own failures on what we perceive as racism in others. Just the other day there were a bunch of ignorant, bigoted Bahamian pastors frothing at the mouth on one of the talk shows because the Ministry of Education "did gie all the prizes dem to the hyshun chirrren". These children weren't "given" anything, they just applied themselves more diligently than our home grown darlings and were rewarded accordingly
You are not entitled to anything in this life because you're black, or white or yellow for that matter, but bey, black crab syndrome still flourishing in this country 'cause ain nobody is discriminate against black people here more than black people.

Posted 19 May 2016, 2:53 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

.......... and white/conchy-joe privilege is alive and well (let's be real)

Posted 19 May 2016, 3:12 p.m. Suggest removal

themessenger says...

Tell that to all those hard red/conchy-joe children in the public school system in Exuma & Long Island who continue to excel scholastically every year despite being so privileged.

Posted 19 May 2016, 3:29 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

Hard to know...popularity doesn't necessarily imply suitability. Unless the selected head girl is a dummy, and I highly doubt she is, who knows...?

Posted 19 May 2016, 3:26 p.m. Suggest removal

exnassauguy says...

Remove your kid if you think the school is so racist. Homeschool your child so she can be Head Girl and the top graduate since that seems to be so important! Mom's primary concern should be whether the child is getting a quality education. This is pure nonsense! Racism? Crybaby is more like it!

Posted 19 May 2016, 7 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

This is a typical Grand Bahamian tizzie ......... they are always crying over some issue ...... they are the best cry-babies and pity-party lovers in The Bahamas ........ always crying "foul" while trying to live their "American" lifestyle on Bahamian salaries ....... Go to North Carolina where there will be no more valedictorians in high schools because "no one wants to be offended"

Posted 19 May 2016, 8:12 p.m. Suggest removal

realfreethinker says...

This is such bullshit. The damn stats shows that racism is not an issue at this school.More than half the students are "Bahamian". I know first hand that racism is not involved,must be a mother who was looking for somthing free and when she didn't get her way she spew this shit out . GET A LIFE

Posted 20 May 2016, 8:21 a.m. Suggest removal

BMW says...

hit the nail on the head realfreethinker. Bad case of "entitlement" LIS has awarded millions of dollars in scholarship to local Bahamian student. To hear this garbage of two-tiered unequal education system is just that garbage. Any student regardless of race creed or birth can excel with the hard work and attention to work. Race has nothing to do with this!!!

Posted 20 May 2016, 10:46 a.m. Suggest removal

cmiller says...

If this child's teachers voted against her, the parent had better get to know her child better. Teachers see a child's true colors all day long.

Posted 20 May 2016, 12:27 p.m. Suggest removal

true242teacher says...

The story written in The Freeport News carried so many "inaccuracies" and false allegations. I am disgusted that The Freeport News would basically print a false editorial on the front page of its paper, due diligence was not applied here. Here are the facts. The school just sent out their newsletter yesterday and showed who the students are that won. There is not just a "WHITE" head girl who just got elected, there are two HEAD STUDENTS who were just democratically elected by a transparent process that was known in advance of the election and has been in place for many years. And by the way Freeport News, one is white and ONE IS NOT WHITE and they are two terrific girls. Where was the parent before the election? Did she question the process before the election? This school actually gives students the opportunity to have a 50% say in who they want as head student, but accounts 50% from the staff who may realize why one may be a better candidate that is academic, will represent the school well in the community and may not have discipline issues. This mom even states that her kid was given detention over an incident with a white girl. First of all, tell us more about the incident and let us judge what happened if this is your claim of racism--if the white girl was not punished, sounds like she didn't need to be. And did you Freeport News ask the school what the altercation was? My guess is no. Quite frankly, knowing some of the black teachers at the school, I cannot see any of them standing by and allowing any student to be treated differently based on skin color. I have seen these teachers stand up for white and black kids alike when the situation warrants--give these teachers some credit. LIS keep up the good work by providing white, black, and all colors of kids in between with opportunities to learn with and from each other in a COLORBLIND environment!

Posted 20 May 2016, 1:17 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

Enjoy living in your COLORBLIND bubble ......... ask the poor black public school children who live in the ghetto settlements in Freeport, Abaco and Nassau, Eleuthera, Exuma etc that our Bahamian education system is COLORBLIND .......... just look at who gets the BGCSE awards and all paid college scholarships in our country each year and then say that our education system is not based on CLASS, RACE and ELITISM ....... jokes!!!!

Posted 20 May 2016, 9:26 p.m. Suggest removal

PC says...

Wow sheeprunner if you want to cast blame you should start with the Bahamian Government. The people of the Bahamas are being kept in a state of poverty by the Government elite just so they can maintain control and fill their pockets! It is not the job of the individual to take care of a country it is the Government. And it is obvious your are definitely not color blind.

Posted 23 May 2016, 11:33 a.m. Suggest removal

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