NAACP Criticizes Malverne Ranking 'Tactics'

A that caused the Malverne School District to originally deny the top performing student in the Class of 2011 the title of valedictorian has stirred up issues of race discrimination in the district.

The Lakeview branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) released a statement Wednesday in response to the news that the district admitted to miscalculating the students' averages.

After an investigation, the district bestowed the valedictorian title to Aalique Grahame, who had originally been deemed salutatorian, but asked him to share the honor with Sarah St. John since they had already given her the title in March. (St. John had been ranked slightly above Grahame at the completion of the first quarter of their senior year, but the district had failed to include the second, violating its previous practices. It was during this quarter that Grahame pulled ahead.)

Grahame has come out saying that the title should be his alone and the NAACP is supporting him.

"While the supposed 'human error' that warranted a recalculation of scores is unfortunate for the young lady who was originally named valedictorian, it is our position that Aalique Grahame should be allowed to hold the title alone," the NAACP statement read.

The organization also questioned why the district does not factor physical education grades into its formula for determining class rankings.

"It is our understanding that the physical education grades were taken out of the calculation in order to decrease the gap in the scores, therefore, this young lady may not even qualify to be the salutatorian, which may rightfully be earned by yet another African American male student," the NAACP alleged.

According to the Malverne Student Handbook, "All marks in
middle school accelerated courses, 9th, 10th, 11th grade are considered for purposes of ranking except for PE, remedial classes, resource room and any other non-credit courses or subjects that do not give a numerical grade. Twelfth grade classes are added for the senior ranking at the midterm point."

Grahame is believed to be the first male African American student to earn the valedictorian title, although official sources have yet to confirm this.

The NAACP compared the situation to other examples when African American men who made history were asked to share their accomplishments with white counterparts, pointing to Randall Pinkett, the first African American man to win “The Apprentice” and Matthew Henson, an African American explorer who was the first man to set foot on the North Pole.

"He was also asked to share the accolades with Robert Peary (a Caucasian explorer) who arrived about a half day behind him," they said.

The NAACP is calling for a public apology to be made to Aalique Grahame and that he should receive all other awards and scholarships that come with being named valedictorian.

"The school should not have had the audacity to ask him to share his Valedictorian position when he was clearly number one in his class," wrote the NAACP. "We congratulate and applaud his brilliance as we celebrate his accomplishment."

The story of the mix-up has already spurred a lively discussion on the "I Love Malverne But Want More From Our Schools" Facebook page, where one woman, Allison Melissa, wrote: "Race shouldn't even have been brought up. It should be left a human error. End of story!!"

She added, "He should have the title and she should not. Black, White, Red, Green. Maybe if we all, white & black focus on a better education for our children we can move forward and make things better."

In response, Mike Alexander wrote: "The focus is not on race, the attention is brought to race based on the repeated, ongoing slights against a particular group of people. Doesn't have to be color, could be class (rich vs. poor), could be religion (Christian v Muslim)...

"But at the end of the day," he added. "Here in this school district...there has and continues to be a continuous oppressive nature toward people of color."