School Closings in St. Louis Spark Angry Protests, Threat of Boycott

ST. LOUIS (AP)

Parents and teachers are upset over the closing of a dozen schools in mostly black north St. Louis, saying the changes imposed by out-of-town consultants endanger children's safety and have torpedoed a disenfranchised community.

Relations have deteriorated so much that school board member Vince Schoemehl, a former mayor, called protesters who stormed board meetings Nazis. He later apologized. Board member Rochell Moore, who is black, wrote a letter apparently placing a curse on Mayor Francis Slay, who is white, because he supported the slate of new board members who initiated the changes.

Some angry parents and teachers are calling for a boycott when school starts Sept. 8. ---

The "bad people" are the consultants hired by a multiracial school board in May for $5 million to run the district temporarily. The district contracted with a New York City-based corporate turnaround firm, Alvarez & Marsal, which has never before worked with a public school system.

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The first thing is the obvious racism involved.

The second thing is if I hear one more thing "consultants" recommend, I think I'm going to go ballistic. They are nothing but high-paid rats. I think they should go the way of health insurance companies - and by that I mean OUT of existence.

I'm definitely going to be following this to see if there is a boycott on 9/8! Thanks for posting it.

St. Louis city schools are all predominantly African American. The opposite is true with the St. Louis County schools. The
City and the County are different governments and different jurisdictions -- the airport, which is physically in the county, is still under the city.

St. Louis is weird in its political setup, initiated by the city long ago. Now that the money is in the areas it didn't want when it forced the split, it now relies on an eroding business base for funding.

include the black led Clergy Coalition. They are urging parents to take their kids to school on the first day and everyday. A local "urban renewal" group composed primarily of white yuppie types, Metropolis St Louis is also urging parents to ignore the boycott and have their kids in school on the first day. To the best of my knowledge Metropolis St Louis has taken no position on the actions of the consultants, they state that they are concerned about kids not being in school.

The local teacher's union, Local 420, is also fighting the powers that be on the school board. I don't think they have had a raise in a few years and there have been many positions cut.

This is as much about class as it is race. Those blacks and whites who choose to live in St Louis but can afford to do so, send their kids to private schools. There are a great number of St Louis kids in Catholic and other private schools.

Let's see, so far the conservatives have managed to make racial profiling part of the criminal justice process and now they've found boards that will close schools down in black communities and vouchers which manage to break federal law by sifting money away from schools in black communities.

At least we don't need to guess why white Republicans are voting for Bush despite his disasterous track record. If ever there was a party that was committed to ensuring white dominance in America, this is it.

Shit, Sherlock!

:pals: :yourock:

Stand up and be heard!