Zaire Byrd has big dreams of going to college and pursuing a career in film and media. The now-Banneker High School senior is gearing up for graduation, recently starting the 2023-2024 school at a new school with a renewed focus to reach his goals.
Byrd’s academic future took a turn, in January of 2023. Byrd and his mother, DeAndrea Byrd, said he was “unjustly expelled” from Tri-Cities High School’s magnet program following an altercation involving a group of students.
The Byrd Family and Sterling Johnson, the director for the Partnership for Southern Equity’s (PSE) Just Opportunity Portfolio, were guests on Tuesday’s edition of “Closer Look.” Johnson said this is part of a greater problem in Georgia and across the nation of Black students being disciplined at a higher and disproportionate rate than their White peers.
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