Students at Northwest High School in St. Landry Parish staged a protest Friday afternoon after they said school administrators did not host a Black History Month program.
Students told KATC they believe the school made no effort to organize a program. They claimed administrators were concerned about making other races uncomfortable.
Principal's message to parents
Good afternoon Raiders,
Today we celebrated Black History Month by dressing in jeans and Black history shirts/Black shirts. We also paid tribute to the late Reverend Jessie Jackson via the school intercom. We have also had several classes that did Black history projects for their assignments. However, some students were upset and chose to walk out, disregarding all of the programs we have had this year and all of the events we have had this year. Black History Month was not ignored. We do have a lot of faculty members out on leaves of absences and this was part of the reason for not having planned a program as of yet. We did a mini program on today in an attempt to address the concerns. We do plan to have an organized program during the Month of March as requested by our students. We can move forward from this. Please pray for our school!!
Superintendent Milton Batiste says administrators are now working to host a program sometime next month. But some students say they are disappointed, calling a program scheduled after Black History Month "a slap in the face" and saying they do not plan to attend.
