Teamwork

In response to accusations of racism in the selection of its drill team, Texas City High School officials have agreed to hold new tryouts with an ethnically diverse panel of judges (see “Stung,” April 24).

Seven black girls were among 80 students who tried out for the Stingarettes team in March, but not one of the 52 girls who made the team was black. Parents told school officials they thought the selection process was biased because all the judges were white. Some black students at the school said the team has been made up almost exclusively of whites for years, and that many blacks don’t try out because they don’t think they have a chance.

Texas City High School is 18 percent African-American, 26.8 percent Hispanic, 54.2 percent Caucasian and less than 1 percent Asian and Native American.

Stephen Hadley, spokesman for the Texas City ISD, said the district wants to dispel any notion of prejudice.

“We put the new tryouts in place in response to the perception that we are excluding minorities,” Hadley said. “We don’t necessarily think anything like that was done, but we certainly understand how that perception could exist.”

Mike Roberson, a Houston restaurant operator, had complained to the district after his daughter Chelsea didn’t make the team in the first tryouts. He’s pleased with the decision.

“They relented,” he said. “They seem to want to do the right thing.”

But Roberson said he wants some kind of legally binding commitment that the tryouts will be fair to minorities in the future. “If they don’t do that, I will sue them,” he said. “They knew what they were doing this time was wrong, but that didn’t stop them.”

Hadley said all students who made the team in the original March tryouts will remain on the Stingarettes. Those not chosen will have a second chance to try out on May 9, this time in front of one white, one black and one Hispanic judge. A minimum of eight additional Stingarettes will be chosen. Anyone who scores as high as the lowest qualifier will make the team, he said.

“There will be an unlimited number of slots, so we could have a huge squad,” he said. “It could go from 52 to 85 members total.”

Judges will be members of the Texas Dance Educators Association, Hadley said. The judges will not know the principal or drill team instructors, he said. One of the accusations in the past has been that the judges were friends of the instructor, and chose those she wanted on the team.

Hadley said the multiethnic selection process will be used in future years. “As long as these policies are followed to the letter, we shouldn’t have any problems.”

Although Roberson is pleased with the school district’s about-face, he said he is still upset the officials weren’t willing to change their position before he discussed the matter in the Houston Press. He said Principal Bill Doughty and drill team instructor Traci Mills were arrogant to him in March and refused to consider new tryouts.

Janice Weatherspoon, an African-American mother, filed a complaint in the mid-1990s after an all-white judging panel did not select her daughter for the team. The district redid the tryouts under the supervision of the Texas Education Agency, and her daughter was selected by a diversified panel.

Weatherspoon agreed not to sue, she said, on the condition that the school would continue to have a diversified panel in the future.

“The thing that troubles me is that when I went to see them, they already knew they were supposed have black judges,” Roberson said. “They were that defiant, even though they knew they were wrong. I’m a reasonable guy, but they sat there and lied the whole meeting.”

Still, Roberson embraces the change.

“I think it’s as much as they can do in light of the situation,” he said. “I’m happy my daughter is going to get a fair shot.”

He’s calling for an oversight committee and binding agreement to make sure the process is unbiased in the future.

“I think it is time whatever resolution comes out of this has some serious teeth,” Roberson said. “I won’t give them a chance to do this again.”