Virginia GOP senatorial candidate: Desegregation ‘was the beginning of the decline’ for schools
A Republican candidate for the Virginia state Senate was back-pedaling on Thursday following remarks that suggested he thought the integration of the state’s schools hurt the quality of education, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reported.
“I’m old enough to have lived during the desegregation of the schools here locally,” Wayne Coleman said in an interview on The John Fredericks Show on Monday. “And busing children, in my opinion, around the different districts, getting them out of their local neighborhoods, really was the beginning of the decline in some of the school districts.”
Coleman, who is running to represent the state’s 6th District argued that state and federal officials should delegate more responsibility to local districts.
“What’s troubling Norfolk is not the same fix that’s going to help the Northampton schools, and Accomack, and over in Mathews,” he told Fredericks. “Although their school systems are better, they still face problems.”
On Wednesday, however, Coleman said in a statement that opponents were seizing on an opportunity to “misconstrue and mischaracterize” his statement.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/12/virginia-gop-senatorial-candidate-desegregation-was-the-beginning-of-the-decline-for-schools/
They always say they were misquoted when they are caught.