Black Mississippi student forced to share valedictorian title with white student who had lower GPA

[RandySF]

Jasmine Shepard was the top of her class and had the highest GPA, but her Mississippi high school forced her to “share” the title with students whose GPAs were lower. The school has never done something like this before, but they’ve also never had a black valedictorian before. She and her family think it’s because of her race.

“Prior to 2016, all of Cleveland High School’s valedictorians were white,” a lawsuit against the school says, according to The Washington Post. “As a result of the school official’s unprecedented action of making an African-American student share the valedictorian award with a white student, the defendants discriminated against.”

Shepard was also forced to deliver her speech to students after the white student and would have been forced to walk behind the girl as well if Jasmine hadn’t protested. However, Jasmine doesn’t want to see backlash against the other student, saying that the young woman is “the kindest-hearted, sweetest person.”

The Cleveland School District, through an attorney, is calling the suit “frivolous” claiming the students had identical “grade point averages.”


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