A teenage mother was shot and killed in downtown Memphis early Sunday morning after someone opened fire in a crowd. Myneishia Johnson was scheduled to graduate this weekend from Booker T. Washington High School where the 18-year-old was an honor student and athlete. (You can read about the shooting here.)
The brokenhearted principal is allowing Myneishia's toddler to come on stage to accept his mother's diploma, a decision that prompted a critical email to Principal Alisha Coleman-Kiner.
The critic wrote, “The death of any young person is tragic. But to allow someone else to walk across the stage to accept her diploma is one thing but then give it to her young infant is another.”
Kiner wasn’t having it, posting a fiery response on Facebook that included: “You have NO idea how hard my student was working to overcome every single obstacle in her life. She worked a job every day, she kept her OWN baby (we had to ask her if we could keep him), she played on the basketball team, she did well in all of her Honor’s classes, she kept up with her younger siblings and made them come to school, and, most importantly, she NEVER missed one day of school.”
You can read the principal's full response — which has gone viral — on the AJC Get Schooled blog.
About the Author
