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Below the overview of the district are links to KBIA's coverage of Columbia 93 district schools, updated as more stories are published. Columbia 93 at a glanceThe Columbia 93 school district currently includes 32 different schools. In 2014, the district had a k-12 enrollment of 17,204 students, which is 2% of the total k-12 enrollment for the state. Enrollment has been slightly increasing in recent years, 2% since 2011. While a small percent, that amounts to almost 400 more students. There have also been major re-drawing of attendance areas with the addition of Battle High School. Middle school attendance areas shape high school boundaries 00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2f9e0000The changes have affected all schools in the district, including causing high school attendance to increase and overcrowding at one middle school at least.

School District's Investigation of Smithton Student Arrest Finds No Policy Violations

Columbia Police Department logo on CPD car
Meiying Wu / KBIA

An internal investigation by Columbia Public Schools has found no violations in the arrest of a black student at Smithton Middle School in January, according to a letter sent to the attorney representing the mother of the student.

The one-page letter sent Friday concluded that board policy was not violated and, therefore, no “corrective action” was recommended.

The letter was shared with the Missourian by Race Matters, Friends. The organization, on the recommendation of the State NAACP chair, has been advocating on behalf of the mother, Kandas Holmes-Barnes, and her daughter since May, president Traci Wilson-Kleekamp said.

The investigation was prompted by a complaint Holmes-Barnes filed in May with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, alleging her 14-year-old daughter was racially profiled in the arrest and traumatized. The girl was wrongfully arrested after being misidentified as one of the students involved in a fight that left one person injured. She was held in juvenile detention overnight. She was released after her mother showed police cellphone video of the fight and it became clear that the girl wasn’t involved.

To read more, visit our partners at the Columbia Missourian.