Wilcox County Schools finds itself in the unflattering eye of a social media storm after reports of its segregated proms — a vestige of 1970s integration when many high schools stopped sponsoring proms and it fell to parents to organize the dances – hit the newspapers, TV stations and Facebook.
The south Georgia school system is now addressing the surge in media attention, correcting a few misconceptions. Namely, that it sponsors these black and white proms.
In a general statement, Wilcox Superintendent Steven Smith said:
A recent article stated that Wilcox County High School is hosting its first integrated prom. Unfortunately, the article failed to provide all of the relevant facts related to proms in Wilcox County. Wilcox County High School has never hosted a school-sponsored prom.
In recent history, there have been two private parties that have been referred to as their “proms” by two different groups of students. When the ladies mentioned in the article