Protestors Take School Bond Fight To Superintendent's Home
By Lisa Baldwin
POSTED: Monday, October 8, 2007
UPDATED: 7:59 am CDT October 8,
2007
HOUSTON -- Demonstrators held signs and shouted outside the Waller Independent School District superintendent's home Sunday to protest the distribution of funds from a $49 million school bond, KPRC Local 2 reported.
About 20 demonstrators gathered outside Superintendent Richard McReavy's home in northwest Harris County.
The protestors claimed that Jones Elementary School, whose student body is mostly black and Hispanic, was not getting its fair share of the bond that voters approved in May.
Critics said the $270,000 Jones Elementary is slated to receive is not enough.
"When you take money from black children and put it into more sophisticated areas, and you neglect black children, that is clear-out racist to us," said Dr. Hershel Smith, president of the Waller County Leadership Council.
Two uniformed officers were outside McReavy's house during the protest. They said the superintendent was not home.
In the past, school officials said the allocation of funds is fair and that replacing the aging Jones Elementary School is not a cost-effective option because the building is leased. The school sits on the campus of Prairie View A&M University.
A lawsuit against the school district failed, with a judge ruling that the bond issue was legal.
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