ERIK SANZENBACH and LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / August 18, 1999

LUTCHER- “The boycott is in full swing for Wednesday,” said Elaine Grant, mother of two students at St. James High School. Grant is ready andwilling, along with a number of other west bank parents, to keep her children out of school when St. James Parish schools open this morning.The boycott is in answer to the St. James School Board’s actions to moveSt. James High School’s principal, Ridgley Mitchell, to the parish’sLearning Academy, and replacing him with instructional supervisor Jude Reulet.

The action has spurred parents from all over the St. James Parish to keeptheir children from school.

“Mr. Mitchell did a hellfire job,” said Grant. “He was able to get theviolence down and the scores up at the school.”Parent Calvin C. Narcisse agreed. “Mr. Mitchell was doing a superb job. There was no reason to remove him,”he said. “This boycott is about justice and fairness.”St. James School Superintendent P. Edward Cancienne has warned parentsthat keeping their children out of school is against the law, but Grant has said parents have planned for this. According to her, the concerned parentshave applied to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for forms that would allow their children to participate in home study.

“We thought of the children before we did this,” Grant said. “We have gotto keep going with this.” She said they will not sacrifice the children’s education on this issue.

Grant also said that Graylin Brown, head of the St. James chapter of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has had a meeting with Cancienne, but the contents of that meeting have not yet been disclosed.

Grant, on the other hand, thinks a lot of what is going on at St. James Highhas to do with the athletic department.

“The key to St. James High was the football team,” she said. “Nobody evertalked about academics until Mr. Mitchell became principal.” She feelsthat Mitchell’s stress of academic excellence upset some people in the athletic department.

“We don’t want to be known just for football,” Grant said. “What happensto the students after football season?” The parents have been hoping that the football players would participate in the boycott. Grant said they may have “19 players on our side.”On the other hand, Lena Costly said it’s all about academic excellence.

“We want to get the children back in school,” she insisted. “Within a yearthat Mr. Mitchell was there, the test scores went up.”Costly, who has two children of her own due to start school today, added that Cancienne’s pledge to work closely with parents was a hollow one and said, “Cancienne promised when major changes are made, he would work with the parents. A month later, he did this.”She concluded, “As concerned parents, we can’t see a superintendent making such a drastic move. We really want to be heard.”

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