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Video: Ferguson Mayor & Former Students Reunite With Favorite Teacher | Missouri Political News Service

Video: Ferguson Mayor & Former Students Reunite With Favorite Teacher

April 19th, 2017 by mopns_admin · No Comments

Leaster Arps-Widmark (second from the right) was re-united with many of her former students at Griffith Elementary School. Credit: KMOV
What a heartwarming story. The so called racist mayor of Ferguson had a favorite teacher. And guess What? She’s African American!

KMOV.com:

A teacher now retired from the Ferguson-Florissant School District started imagining a better St. Louis decades ago. “Before I started class, I’d say ‘We are going to establish respect for each other. I have respect for you and you’re going to give it back to me. If we can get that all together, we’re going to be fine.'” said Leaster Arps-Widmark, known as Mrs. Arps to her students. Mrs. Arps started teaching back in 1970 and spent about 25 years with the Ferguson-Florissant School District. “Back in my time, when we were coming up, that was the number one profession, being a teacher,” said Arps, now 74-years-old…Dr. Rachel Morel, D.O., now a practicing psychiatrist, James Knowles III, the Mayor of Ferguson, and Christopher Dew, a school transportation supervisor were just a sample of the students who had recently reached out to Mrs. Arps and came to see her again this day…Mayor Knowles highlighted the balance Mrs. Arps found in her classroom, being both strict, yet loving. “You always wanted to get approval from Mrs. Arps,” said Knowles. “None of us would be here without you.” Read more…

Related:

Stlpublicradio.org: With election behind them, Knowles and Jones pledge a united front in Ferguson

STLToday: Ferguson mayor wins third term, Chesterfield mayor also re-elected

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