They say they collected more than 15,000 signatures insisting on turnarounds at poorly performing schools. They planned to turn the petitions over to the board.
The group claimed the system has 252 failing schools. But they didn't give specific proposals for fixing them.
"We don't want the board to sit back and do nothing," said Rev. Ira Acree, Greater St. John Bible Church. "Whatever it takes to bring these scores up, we must not allow the achievement gap to expand so we're holding the board accountable."
On Wednesday, the board is scheduled to vote on closing seven schools and restructuring 10 others.
