LA VERGNE, Tenn. - Some parents are questioning a lunchroom policy at a Middle Tennessee High School.
WSMV-TV reports that La Vergne High School separates students making poor grades from the rest of their classmates during lunch to give them academic intervention.
School officials say they implemented the split-lunch concept to help struggling students find success. They say those students are sent to the auditorium for a learning lab before they eat.
Parent Paul Morecroft said he's concerned about his daughter being separated based on her academic standing and has complained to school administrators.
"To me, it's considered separation because you have your special needs kids and the kids getting the good grades on one side, and the kids getting below an 80 on the other side," Morecroft said.
Although he called it segregation, school officials said that wasn't a correct description.
"They are not segregating them in the traditional sense. If the kids' scores are low in certain areas, they are getting help in that area. If you want to label that segregation, then that's not the correct way to label it," said Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans.
School officials say the initiative has worked, noting that two years ago the graduation rate at La Vergne High School was about 77 percent, and now it's almost at 90 percent.
"We all want our kids to be successful, and that's exactly what this school is trying to do," Evans said. "They are giving students additional intervention times in areas they are struggling with, and that's a good thing. I can't see how anyone will be against that."