news Bogie, Bradley and Busing
The Story of Pinellas County School Integration A nine-part series exclusive to the Gabber By James A. Schnur
By the mid-1970s, tensions escalated with the federal busing mandate. The majority of students in some zones refused to attend their assigned schools. A white student attacked an attorney with the American flag as the lawyer left city hall, while parents angrily rallied, marched and protested. Authorities canceled football games out of caution. What happened? Welcome to Boston. These incidents happened in Massachusetts, not Florida. While tensions boiled over in other parts of the country, Florida counties made substantial progress during the 1970s, moving away from the segregated system of the past and toward unitary status. Gus Sakkis replaced Nicholas Mangin as county school superintendent in June 1972. Sakkis provided stability to a district that had six superintendents in seven years. He held the office for nine years. Although the situation improved in most Pinellas schools, lingering
BOCA CIEGA HIGH TREASURE CHEST
Part 8: Moving Forward, One Bus Stop at a Time
hostilities sometimes erupted at Boca Ciega High. A stabbing and cafeteria fight at the beginning of February 1973 morphed into a race riot a few days later that involved more than 400 students, some carrying rocks, sticks and chains. Less than 500 of Bogie’s 2,200 students remained on campus by
the end of that violent day. Racial unrest resumed in mid-April 1973. On Friday, April 13, 150 Black students who came to campus refused to go to class. Some fights occurred, students sought refuge in classrooms, administrators tried to diffuse the situation and police swarmed the campus soon after.
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theGabber.com | August 19, 2021 - August 25, 2021
