By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Tuesday is the first day of class for the St. Louis public schools, and school officials made the rounds of several African-American churches Sunday to remind parents and students.
Mayor Francis Slay spoke to parishioners at the Central Baptist Church. He admitted he was preaching to the choir, but added the message needs to get out. "People that go to church generally are going to send their kids to school, but they know others," Slay said Sunday.
"We've got kids in the audience, we've got parents in the audience who know people on the block that may be able to find someone that has difficulty for some reason, and provide some help in getting that individual to class."
Last year a number of parents and students boycotted the first day to protest the schools' hiring of a private management team.
Despite that protest, the first day attendance of 76% was the highest in a number of years.
This year, school leaders are expecting things to be much calmer.