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A Mississippi high school is being roasted for adding two white students as valedictorian and salutatorian of the class of 2021. Two Black students had already been named West Point High School’s valedictorian and salutatorian.
Ikeria Washington and Layla Temple, who are Black, were named at the top of their class on May 24. The school later announced that there would be two valedictorians and two salutatorians in the graduating class of 2021. Dominic Borgioli and Emma Berry, who are white, didn’t even have the highest GPAs. Washington and Temple had the highest QPAs.
The school claims that they use two methods to determine the valedictorian and salutatorian, QPA and GPA. Because Temple and Washington had the highest QPA, and Borgioli and Berry had the GPA, the school said it “feels it necessary” to honor all four students.
Angela Washington, Ikeria’s mother, said that Borgioli and Berry’s parents pressured the school superintendent daily to change their GPAs, citing scholarships awarded based on them being valedictorian and salutatorian. Washington said that Ikeria and Layla took several AP courses to up their average while the white students only took one at the most.
“So my high school had a black valedictorian and salutatorian AND THEY WERE FEMALES and now since a white person was mad about it. They decide to call the girls back and let them know that it will now be two valedictorians and salutatorians. This is wrong!”
Lakira Temple, Layla’s mother, said that Layla feels humiliated by the turn of events.
“The superintendent made her feel as if she wasn’t as smart as the other kids, and that she shouldn’t believe that she’s on their level,” said Temple.
Berry’s and Borgioli’s denied that they pressured the school to change their kid’s GPAs. Temple and Washington’s parents are meeting with the West Point Consolidated School District board later in June.