Schools Closed After Boycott by Black Students

The Indianola School Board closed all five of its schools Tuesday because of a black student boycott protesting the selection of a white school superintendent to run the mostly black district.

School Board Chairman Walter Gregory said the board decided Monday to close the schools indefinitely when only 21% of the district’s 3,000 students showed up for class. He said the schools, scheduled to end the semester in about a month, will remain closed until the boycott is resolved.

The Indianola Board of Aldermen called Monday night for the resignation of W. A. Grissom, whose appointment triggered the boycott.

“We’re seeing the business community torn apart. We’re seeing the whole town town apart,” Alderman Bill Coleman said.

Schools 92% Black

The school board voted 3 to 2 along racial lines in naming Grissom superintendent on March 25. Indianola schools are 92% black, and angry black residents began keeping their children home from school the next day and picketing white-owned businesses.

The protesters say their efforts will continue until Grissom, who is scheduled to take over July 1, resigns and is replaced by their choice for superintendent, black middle school principal Robert Merritt.

Although they voted against hiring Grissom, both Gregory and another black school board member, David Jackson, publicly supported Grissom until Monday but now say he should not take office. The three white school board members who voted for Grissom refused comment.

Grissom could not be reached for comment.