Updated at 3:20 p.m. Nov. 25 to note the CHS boys basketball for Nov. 26 has not been cancelled. The game will be played at 7 p.m. at CHS.
Collinsville Police and the school district are reporting no activity out of the ordinary a day after a St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown.
Collinsville water tower / Photo by Roger Starkey
Collinsville Unit 10 School District Superintendent Bob Green said absences across the district were in line with normal holiday week attendance and no unusual disturbances were reported. A few concerned parents had contacted his office to inquire about school readiness, Green said.
The violent demonstrations in Ferguson have had an impact on extracurricular activities for the district, however. The Collinsville High School band will not be participating in the St. Louis Thanksgiving Day parade. Green said he has heard unconfirmed reports that other Illinois schools will not send their bands, either.
“It’s a shame, but we have to do it,” Green said. “The safety of our students and staff comes first.”
Lt. Brett Boerm, of the Collinsville Police Department, said no incidents have occurred in the city that can be attributed to the grand jury decision.
The Metro East Joint Information Center has reported that all Metro East communities, with the exception of East St. Louis, were “quiet” last night. East St. Louis Police report that as many as four car loads of people looted two businesses near the intersection of 25th and State Street in, MEJIC reported. Police have video of the incident and are actively investigating.
Created after the rioting and looting in Ferguson in August, the MEJIC is a combined headquarters manned by area police chiefs tracking the events in Ferguson and the Metro East, Boerm said. The MEJIC posted on Twitter and Facebook overnight that social media rumors of rioting and looting in Belleville and surrounding Metro East communities were not true. Reports Tuesday of looting at an O’Fallon, Ill., Wal-Mart and of protests in Cahokia were false, MEJIC posted on its Facebook page.
