The Pender County NAACP contends that the local school system is so biased against minorities that litigation may be warranted. In a new Pender Post piece, Pender school officials push back hard against the allegations, citing efforts to broaden their recruitment pool without hiring on the basis of race. A key passage:

NAACP allegations also accuse Pender Schools of not working to close the achievement gap between white and minority students. The NAACP email says “only 20.5 percent of African-American students passed the tests compared to 71.8 percent white.” While it is not immediately known which tests the email refers to, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) test scores for minorities in Pender County are considerably higher than those reported by the NAACP.

In grades 3-8, AYP proficiencies are 80.9 percent for white students and 54.1 percent for black in reading. Math scores are 88.9 percent proficient for white students and 68.7 percent for black students. Minority AYP subgroups have grown 16.2 percent in reading and 17.2 percent in math over the past two years. White subgroups have grown 14.5 percent in reading and 11 percent in math.

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