Henry principal faces backlash over T.I. visit

By Staff

For the AJC

A Henry County parent is complaining he wasn’t notified when Atlanta rapper T.I. was invited to speak to his children’s school.

And he was shocked by the response the school’s principal gave him.

Tom Myers declined to talk to an AJC reporter about his concerns, but told WSB that he wanted to know ahead of the March 5 anti-bullying assembly that the rapper would be appearing at the school.

Myers was upset that T.I., a convicted felon also known as Clifford Harris, was speaking to students at Woodland Middle School.

“Had I had the opportunity to not let them [my children] go, I would have had them sit out,” he told WSB.

T.I. served a year-long prison sentence last year on federal gun charges for trying to purchase a machine gun. As part of the condition of his release, T.I. was required to serve more than 400 hours of community service, including speaking engagements at schools.

In an e-mail to principal Terry Oatts, Myers said he told Oatts to give parents a choice of whether to “allow our children to be exposed to these questionable individuals.”

Oatts’ reply, according to e-mails provided to WSB: “I thought about asking a guy who snorted cocaine and got arrested for DUI when he was 30 to come and speak to our kids, but President George W. Bush was not available.”

Myers said he was floored.

“I could not believe that he would put that in an e-mail,” the parent told WSB.

But Oatts continued in his e-mails with Myers, reportedly pointing out that even the president had made mistakes as a young man, and that T.I. was trying to encourage students was ‘to take their education seriously, put forth their best effort, pursue their dreams and not engage in bullying.'

Henry County Schools spokeswoman Connie Rutherford said school officials are aware of Myers' complaints and "consider all allegations and concerns seriously."

Rutherford would not, however, say what action, if any, would be taken against Oatts.