Two school systems in Georgia will resume classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to make up for last week’s snow day, drawing much criticism from the NAACP.
Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia State NAACP Chapter, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he is shocked that Fannin and Gilmer counties would “rise to this level of disrespect” to King.
“The whole state of Georgia should be embarrassed, actually, by the action of both counties,” DuBose said. “You can’t help but to come to the conclusion that the population of his county is having some bearing on the leadership.”
While Gilmer County Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said he “certainly understands the criticism,” he claims that school officials didn’t have much of a choice. Both counties have already lost nine school days, four before Christmas and five last week.
“It’s tough when people don’t realize that since Dec. 2 we’ve only had kids in school two whole days and two half days,” Dorsey said. “Since Dec. 10 we’ve almost had a small summer break already.”
DuBose said he hopes the counties will reconsider their decision to hold classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dorsey reiterated that the schools weren’t purposely doing this to slight the holiday.
“Some people have characterized it as not honoring Martin Luther King,” Dorsey said. “We certainly don’t intend it to be that way, no more than we intended not to honor our presidents on the presidents’ holiday that we had to take back [due to prior snow days].”