That is Not What "White Balance" Means

This is the strangest photography-related story I've run across in a while. I've tried to understand the thinking behind it, and the process of how it might have happened, and I'm left puzzled.

Pupils forced to pose for school photo according to skin colour

"A school apologised today after telling tearful children to line up for a photograph by the colour of their skin. Parents condemned the decision by Sandhurst Junior School in Lewisham, south London, to arrange the children from the lightest skinned to the darkest. One parent claimed the intention had been to make life easier for the photographer - so he did not have to keep rearranging his reflector screens."