Group protests School Board decision outside of Lafayette High School

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Four St. Joseph community members braved the below-freezing temperatures Thursday morning to protest the St. Joseph School District Board of Education's decision to repurpose Lafayette High School as a middle school.

This comes after the SJSD School Board decided to move forward with Plan 4BR in a 5-2 vote just weeks ago. The plan will keep Benton and Central as the district's two high schools and turn Lafayette into a middle school.

The group showed up with signs, along with breakfast burritos and free t-shirts to hand out.

According to Steven Cunningham, a current junior at Lafayette High School, students have been walking out all week.

“So yesterday we had about 40 students that decided to walk out because of the things that the school board is doing. And it will keep happening until it makes change,” he said.

Cunningham was adamant about not attending either Benton or Central to wrap up his high school career.

Larissa Vinson graduated from Lafayette High School in 2002 and explained that the school has extreme sentimental value to her and her immediate family, as well as extended family.

“I got several second cousins and third cousins in the school district, " Vinson said. “All my family on both sides are alumni from here. So we got generations on both sides from us in school.”

Another protest is scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the intersection of Belt Highway and Frederick Avenue.