Student Denied Admission Because He’s Black

“The only thing preventing E.L. from enrolling at Gateway next year is his skin color”

A young and intelligent third-grader Edmond, commonly called E.L., has been denied admission to public schools in St. Louis, including magnet schools and charter schools, because he is African-American.

According to reports, E.L. and his family until recently lived in St. Louis, where he had excelled at Gateway. They transferred to the suburb Maryland Heights looking for a neighborhood with less crime rate.

Unfortunately, the St. Louis educational organization’s archaic settlement agreement prevented E.L. from enrolling next academic year. These agreements were adopted over three decades ago and they ban black students from the suburbs to enroll in St. Louis schools.

E.L.’s mother, La’Shieka White, has filed a lawsuit against the St. Louis Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corp (VICC). The organization, VICC, wrote in a statement, “This particular student’s ineligibility is a straightforward application of how the program works and the rules that we must abide by.”

“It is outrageous that in this day and age, there would still be policies on the books that turn children away from the school of their choice because of the color of their skin,” said PLF Principal Attorney Joshua Thompson.

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