A Sunday chat with School Board members will include the achievement gap and other topics of interest.
By JON WILSON
Published May 19, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - An activist group is sponsoring what an organizer calls a "must" meeting with School Board members Sunday to air issues about educating African-American students.
The meeting is at 4 p.m. at Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, 955 20th St. S. The Concerned Organization for Quality Education for Black Students has invited board members, parents, students and all others who have an interest.
"This is a meeting parents can't afford to miss," said Vyrle Davis, one of the organizers. "People should come in numbers. It shows you care about what's going on."
Among the topics are the achievement gap, choice of schools, the No Child Left Behind law, development of a more productive relationship with the School Board, and the future of schools when the federal government is no longer supervising integration efforts.
"Not only are we not closing the achievement gap, but . . . our students are not doing as well as other black students in the state of Florida. We have some serious concerns we need to address, not only with the School Board (but) with the community itself," Davis said.
Sunday's event is an outgrowth of a series of meetings that began last year and were organized by another group, the African-American Voters Research and Education Committee. Those meetings hammered out the major issues facing black students.
Questions for board members can be submitted in advance. They can be faxed to (727) 328-7143.
