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Angry parents help to stage the very first Claiborne County school boycott in 1971.

Arthur Elementary School was needing structural repairs and students along with parents staged the very first recorded boycott of their local school.

Parents began the boycott on a Tuesday morning right after a school board meeting on Monday night.

During the meeting, a resolution of funds to replace the crumbling building failed to pass the board vote and immediately angered students and parents alike.

An unnamed spokesperson for the group said this, “We have been promised new facilities for 18 years and this is the only thing left to do.”

Not a single one of approximately 100 students attended Arthur Elementary that Tuesday morning and most of them protested outside the school building.

Parents asked the community to come out and do a walk through of the school just to see the conditions their kids school building was actually in.

At the time, the parents and students said they would continue the boycott as long as it takes to get something done.

By ALLEN EARL

allen.earl@claiborneprogress.net