LARGO — Pinellas School Board members were midway through a discussion on student discipline Thursday when board member Mary Brown announced it was time to talk about "the elephant in the room" when it comes to kids acting up.
As the district returns to a system of neighborhood schools, Brown said, she once again is hearing from white south county teachers who say they feel intimidated by black students, particularly black males.
"We have had black students tell white teachers, 'We don't want you here because this is a black school,' " Brown said. "We have to deal with this right up front so students won't feel they're in control."
The way to do that, Brown continued, is to make sure teachers have the training they need so they can deal with issues that start on the street but end up in the classroom.
Nina Hayden, the board's other African-American member, backed Brown up, saying that school is a testing ground for many black males.
"When they come up toe to toe on the street with a white male or an Asian male, that's how they decide their turf," said Hayden, who is an assistant public defender. "We have got to think outside the box and start doing things differently to attack these types of issues."
The remarks came on the second day of the board's annual retreat, held this year at DITEK Corp. in Largo.
