Selma Students in Protest for Black Superintendent
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SELMA, Ala. — Hundreds of black youngsters boycotted class today over the school board’s refusal to renew the contract of Selma’s first black superintendent.
About a dozen pickets, including some children, appeared outside Selma High School to support the boycott, and others protested at several of the 10 other schools in the city, the site in 1965 of a bloody civil rights clash.
School Superintendent Norward Roussell, who implored students not to boycott despite the decision Dec. 21 by the white-majority school board, said about 25% of the system’s 6,039 students were absent.
The five blacks on the school board resigned after the six whites declined to extend Roussell’s contract beyond June. Roussell, 55, became superintendent in 1987. The board cited a job evaluation it would not make public in not renewing his contract.
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