NAACP wants local apology over Valedictorian Dispute
The Waynesboro NAACP asked the School Board late Tuesday to apologize to Waynesboro High graduate Moreko Griggs over the decision to make him co-valedictorian with two other students after he was told he had won the sole honor.The Rev. Mildred Middlebrooks, Waynesboro NAACP president, said she and other branch officials came to Tuesday's School Board meeting "for an apology to be given to Moreko."She called the June ordeal for Griggs and his family "stressful and tumultuous," and said an apology was warranted and would bring closure. Griggs, who is black, was told in May that he earned the top spot in the class of 2004.But 18 hours before the June 5 graduation, Griggs and his family learned that students Jordan Coiner and Allison Martin, both white, would be named co-valedictorians.Coiner's family had requested a recount after being told all year that she was the front-runner for the highest grade-point average, her mother said.School officials then decided to discard the long-held method of tabulating scores, and to include in the recount grades earned during the last weeks of school. [more ]