A video released on Sept. 19 shows a black man in Tulsa with his hands up before being fatally shot by a white police officer there. The next day, a black man in Charlotte, N.C., is shot by an officer there, too.
Three days later, students at North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs stage a sit-in sparked by an incident at the school, they say, while also paying respects to black victims in police-involved shootings.
As students begin conversations on police brutality, racial tensions, even the presidential election, school districts are struggling to define their role. While some say schools offer a space for free expression, recent incidents, including Cobb County's superintendent saying athletes would be benched for taking a knee during the national anthem and Fulton County suspending a teacher for participating in that North Springs High sit-in, show otherwise.
“If there’s an opportunity in schools to use this complex, confusing, frustrating time in our country’s history to embrace it so students can learn from it, I think that’s important for us to do,” Fulton County Schools Superintendent Jeff Rose said recently.
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