Black Student Has to Change Schools Because of His Race

A black third-grader is being booted from his St. Louis school over the wording of a 30-year-old Missouri desegregation ruling, Fox News reports. Edmund Lee's family is moving from St. Louis to a new school district in the suburbs, but Lee wanted to stay at the Gateway Science Academy charter school he's attended for years. Unfortunately, that's illegal because of Lee's race. KTVI explains that a 1983 settlement meant to diversify St. Louis-area schools allows black students to transfer to suburban schools and white students to transfer to urban schools but not vice versa.

“It was surprising to me to have on a piece of paper that he couldn’t attend because he was an African-American and if he was another race he could,” LaShieka White, Edmond’s mother, tells the New York Daily News. Staff at Edmund's school would love to have him back. “To not see his face in the halls next year would be extremely sad,” Edmund's teacher says. “The family is saying they want to stay. I don’t understand why they can’t.” White has started a Change.org petition to convince the Missouri government to let Edmund go back to his school. It's received more than 64,000 signatures so far. (More segregation stories.)