This afternoon, Rev. Dr. John A. Butler the President of the Knoxville Chapter of the NAACP held a 30 minute press conference to discuss what was initially reported yesterday. On November 13, 2015 the Knoxville Branch NAACP requested that the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights investigate concerns relating to discriminate use of Capital Funds for new school construction by Knox County Schools that may have unjustified, adverse disparate impact in students based in race and/or national origin.
On December 18, 2015, the Knoxville Branch NAACP was informed that the OCR will investigate “wether the District’s plan for the construction of Gibbs Middle School will result in re-segregation, in noncompliance with Title VI.”
On December 15, 2015, Knox County had RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for design and construction of the Gibbs and Hardin Valley Middle Schools submitted to the Knox County. Three days later December 18, Knox County learns there will be an investigation. The committee continues the reviews of the RFQ’s and on January 5, 2016 interviewed two separate team of proposers. I asked if the Knoxville Chapter NAACP feels the reviews of the architect/construction teams should have continued. They do not have an opinion, yet.
It seems if Gibbs is under investigation, it should have stopped, in my humble opinion. Full Press Conference Video is being uploaded to youtube, I will post as soon as possible. Stay Tuned.
