I received an unsigned e-mail

last week accusing me of being racist. The sender told me that a letter-writing

campaign was about to begin in an attempt to have me fired, and an apology

was ordered. People are canceling their subscriptions, it declared.

The e-mailer took issue with

a story last week on Sandy Creek High being named a 2004 Georgia "School

of Excellence." Students at the Tyrone school have improved their

scores on the state's graduation exam so dramatically in just three

years, a panel of judges from out of state decided to recognize Sandy

Creek above every other high school in Georgia, even though no administrators

at the school or within the county applied to be considered for the "Excellence"

title.

I suspect the reader wants

my head because of something I wrote in the last graph, in reference to

the English/Language Arts portion of the GHSGT:

"... no African-American

students have failed in two years, even though Sandy Creek's black

enrollment has grown from 28 percent to 34 percent during the same period."

I confess you could read that

a number of ways, but this is what I meant:

As the number of African-American

students at Sandy Creek has increased, so has their scores on standardized

tests. Specifically, the passing rate for blacks on the English/language

arts portion of the test has improved from 93 percent in 2001 to 100 percent

in both 2002 and 2003.

In other words, perfect.

Last year, only one African-American

student failed to pass the math portion and just four had to retake the

social studies portion.

Sandy Creek's white 11th

graders, while not far behind, can't match that success rate.

And yet, "It is racist

comments like yours that continue to divide Fayette County schools,"

continued the e-mail, which was sent from somebody in ...

North Carolina.

Ponder that for a moment as

I catch you up on "the rest of the story."

The rate of enrollment of African-American

students in Fayette County schools is more than five times that of white

student growth, according to an analysis of data recently compiled by

an Atlanta education lobby group.

Half of all new students enrolled

in Fayette schools since 2000 have been black, going from 14 percent of

the total in 2001 to 16 percent in 2003.

In real numbers, that represents

546 more black students since 2000, compared to about 92 added white students.

Most of them have moved into

the Sandy Creek and Fayette County High zones. FCHS is now about 20 percent

black, up from 15 percent just three years ago.

As ridiculous as it sounds,

that's enough to cause some parents I know in the FCHS district to

put their homes on the market and move down to Whitewater.

Never mind that white enrollment

at Fayette High mirrors the county average, at about 75 percent last spring.

Hispanic enrollment is also slowly rising, but Asian-Pacific enrollment

has remained even.

I'm not sure exactly what

it is about this growing mix that concerns parents. After all, as Sandy

Creek's students have shown standardized test scores posted by the

county's black students continue to steadily rise - in some

cases by double digits over three years ago - and outpace the average

scores for black students statewide by 5-to-1.

Knowing that, is it any wonder

black families are moving to Fayette County in droves? Sources tell me

wealthy black families in north Fayette are pulling their kids out of

Woodward Academy and happily transferring them to Sandy Creek, dissatisfied

with the social competition and class-consciousness they found prevalent

on the College Park campus.

But let's abandon race.

If test results can be trusted as an indicator of the quality of instruction,

then Fayette County isn't just meeting the challenge, but raising

the bar, as state schools chief and former McIntosh High teacher Kathy

Cox is trying to do statewide.

Fayette's average

2003 SAT score of 1061 was bested only by Decatur's 1084. Of course,

1,263 seniors from Fayette took the SAT; 110 were tested in Decatur.

In 2002, Fayette County

was first or tied for first in all but one subject area when ranked

Test on the first try.

In a ranking of all 339

of the state's public high schools, the Georgia Public Policy Foundation

places McIntosh at 13th, Starr's Mill at 16th, Fayette at 19th

and Sandy Creek at 39th, all four in the top 10 percent.

Fayette County High's

poverty rate, based on percent of students qualified for free and reduced

lunch, is the lowest of any traditional high school in Georgia.

Joan Williams is the attendance

clerk at Fayette County High. She probably knows more dirt on the school's

2,200 students than anyone else. Williams is a diehard Tiger even though

she lives in Peachtree City and her own kids went to McIntosh. You'll

find her selling tickets at practically every home athletic contest.

So I asked Joan one Friday

last fall, during a break from the horde of fans wanting to get into Tiger

Stadium, what was up with all these rumors around town that the county's

mother high school was having "problems": gang violence, fighting

in the halls.

"No, I wouldn't say

that," said Williams. "There's just more of everybody,

from everywhere. It's like a melting pot, and it takes getting to

know new people and cultures."

That's pretty healthy

advice for a community that's always been willing to do things just

a little different.

Fear needs to stop here.