A separatist town of wealthy white residents in Louisiana is facing an exodus of parents who voted against “racist secession,” fearing their children would be kicked out of school.
St. George’s creation received the green light from the state Supreme Court last week, ending a decade-long “hostile” and divisive campaign that divided wealthy white residents from poorer black neighborhoods.
Supporters hailed the move as a final victory in their long struggle to regain control of the region’s “failing” education system.
But opponents say the split is racially motivated and will create a “white enclave,” leaving struggling black communities behind.
There is now fear of an exodus of families who live within the new city limits but who voted against its creation.
The Altazin family lives in the new town of St. George, but their children live outside the boundaries of the proposed school district, meaning they could be kicked out of their current schools. Pictured top to bottom right: Kye, 2, Dani, 37, Ryan, Emma, 8, and Hayden, 12.
Norman Browning (pictured with his family) led the campaign for the new town of St George in response to violence and declining grades in Baton Rouge public schools.
St. George will have 86,000 residents in a 60-square-mile area in southeastern East Baton Rouge Parish.
Among those particularly concerned about their plight are the Altazins, who live in St. George but send their children to schools in the Baton Rouge area from which the new city has separated.
If a new St. George school district came to fruition as planned, their children could be forced out of their current schools because they likely would not be able to live in one district but attend school in another.
Dani Altazin, 37, a mother of three, said she “loved” the programs her children were currently in, so the family would consider leaving St. George to keep them there.
She added that a “group” of other people were facing a similar dilemma.
There are currently 8,349 students who live in the proposed St George school district area but attend schools elsewhere, according to figures provided to DailyMail.com by the One Baton Rouge campaign, which opposed the new city .
Andrew Murrell, leader of the St. George campaign, did not directly answer questions posed to him about what would happen to those students, pointing out only that the new school district has not yet been created.
Ms Altazin accused the St George campaign of failing to “logistically prepare” for the realities of running a new town.
“There is no guarantee that St George can give my children the same education they are currently receiving.
“There is so much uncertainty.”
Her oldest son, Hayden, 12, attends Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School, while her daughter, Emma, 8, attends the Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts.
The Baton Rouge school system has been heavily criticized for its declining grades and lack of discipline.
But Ms Altazin, who works in purchasing at a local hospital, said she “loves” the specialist programs Hayden and Emma are enrolled in and hopes her youngest son, Kye, 2, will have the same opportunities.
She now fears that this choice will be taken away from her.
She said it was “unfortunate” that this was being done “by the same people who are trying to push school choice” as the driving factor in the creation of St George.
Ms Altazin added that she and her husband, Ryan, were seriously considering moving, but the “terrible” state of the local property market made that unlikely.
Browning, 71, was educated in the Baton Rouge public school system before working there. Pictured above in a Baton Rouge High School yearbook photo
St George (right) will become a separate city from Baton Rouge
Plans were first developed for a new school district in 2012.
The campaign was led by Norman Browning, a former volunteer at Woodlawn High, a school plagued by racial tension and violence.
Browning said in a 2014 PBS Frontline documentary, “Separate And Unequal,” that the years of busing after the end of segregation in the 1950s destroyed the area’s sense of community.
The campaign for a new school district failed to muster the required two-thirds majority in the Legislature.
Instead, they launched a bid to create their own city, ultimately securing the required simple majority (54%) in 2019.
But only those who would live in St George had their say – meaning 46 per cent of residents who voted opposed the move.
They are now blocked. Altazin said the split had created a “hostile” atmosphere between neighbors.
Others used stronger language.
Resident Paul Brady wrote on Facebook: “The segregationist won. I am no longer a citizen of Baton Rouge. I now live in the white enclave of St George.
ME Cormier, executive director of the One Baton Rouge campaign, said she “sympathizes with the people of St. George.”
“They don’t know what tomorrow will look like. It is incredibly difficult to know when tax collection will begin and how those taxes will be distributed. If there is no timetable to demand that our governor appoint a new mayor.
“Once a new school system is formed, you cannot live in one school district and attend school in another school district. »
The leader of an anti-St George campaign group, ME Cormier, said she sympathized with residents who live in the new town, but opposed its creation. “They don’t know what tomorrow will look like,” she added.
The split campaign rose from the ashes of a failed campaign to create a new school district by the wealthy, predominantly white residents of south Baton Rouge.
The creation of St. George was blocked by a legal challenge brought by Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and Mayor Pro Tem Lamont Cole.
They argued that St. George would siphon more than $48 million in annual tax revenue from city and parish government, with devastating effects for East Baton Rouge and its poorest black population.
Opponents also argued that St George had not proposed a balanced budget and would not have sufficient funds to provide its own public services.
They also pointed to research that shows more than 70 percent of St George’s 86,000 residents will be white, with less than 15 percent black.
Louisiana’s lower courts supported Baton Rouge’s arguments, but last week the state Supreme Court reversed its decision, clearing the way for the city’s creation.
The move increases the likelihood that activists will be able to create a new school district within the city – one of the main motivations behind the creation of St George.
Following the decision, Murrell said in a statement: “This is the culmination of citizens’ exercise of their constitutional rights.
“Now we begin the process of delivering on our promises for a better city. »
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