Schools to close in Ferguson

A school district that includes part of Ferguson, Mo., will cancel classes next week in anticipation of a grand jury decision on whether to indict a police officer for killing an unarmed black teenager, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“With the heightened anxiety and activity, we thought it would be better for students and staff to extend the holiday at this point,” Jennings School District superintendent Tiffany Anderson told the paper.

{mosads}She added that most students walk to school because the district doesn’t provide school buses and that people had been approaching students on their walk home. 

The system had already planned to close schools on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday, so school officials decided to give students the entire week off. That makes it more likely that students will be out of school when a grand jury decision is announced.

Multiple reports have suggested the grand jury will not indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Wilson, who is white, shot and killed Michael Brown, who was 18 and black, in an incident that sparked large-scale protests and calls to reevaluate how minorities are treated by police officers.

Many fear that the grand jury’s decision could incite more protests that could lead to clashes with police. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., urged supporters to remain calm once the decision is announced.

“I thank you for lifting your voices to end racial profiling and police intimidation,” he said. “But hurting others and destroying property is not the answer.”

The Associated Press reported Friday that the grand jury is still meeting and does not have a public timeline for its announcement.

The Ferguson area is served by three other school districts: Hazelwood, Riverview Gardens and Ferguson-Florissant. A spokeswoman for the Ferguson-Florissant School District said that it hasn’t decided to close schools, in part because there’s no telling when the grand jury announcement will come.