Parents Keep Kids Home in Protest of School Board

MARIANNA, Ark. — The schools were open in this impoverished Mississippi Delta district and teachers held classes. Most kids, though, didn’t attend.

Their parents wouldn’t let them.

For a fourth day Thursday, most parents in the Lee County School District kept their kids at home to protest what they see as an unfair school board election system.

“This is a painful situation,” said Carolyn Elliott, a spokeswoman for the organizers, who have sued the district to put all seven board seats--instead of just two--up for a vote at next month’s elections.

Only 465 of the district’s 1,750 students attended classes Thursday. On Monday, the first day of school, just 181 showed up.

Marianna, population 5,181, is one of the poorest communities in the state. Census figures last year showed per capita income at $10,253--ranking the town 108th of Arkansas’ 110 communities with 1,000 or more households.

Boycott organizers say state law requires all school districts with a 10% or greater population of minorities to redraw their school boards and hold elections for all board seats after every census.

Board members redrew the districts according to the 2000 census as required, but said only two seats that were already up for election Sept. 17 should be contested.

Opponents say school officials violated federal law regarding zoning for school board positions and violated the civil rights of those who filed to run for the five other board positions.

There also have been accusations of racial bias. Although 90% of the school district’s students are black, five of the seven board members are white. The Census 2000 figures said 57.2% of Lee County is black.

Board member Phylista Stanley, who is black, said the race of board members is not the root of the community discord, though boycott organizers complain of race-based preferential treatment.

A circuit judge delayed a hearing on the lawsuit Wednesday after a temporary order declaring all seven seats open was issued a day before. Community members said the boycott would likely continue until the election issue is resolved.

Late Wednesday, Gov. Mike Huckabee urged parents in this community about 100 miles east of Little Rock not to put their children in the middle of a matter that’s best left to the courts.

“Holding children out of school is not helpful to the children,” Huckabee said. “We are urging parents to get their children back in school and let the process of the courts determine the direction of the school board.”