RACINE - Two Racine Unified student groups want the district to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a day off from school.

They'll join two of the city's civil rights organizations today to rally before the Unified School Board meeting in an effort to pressure the district to recognize King's birthday as a school holiday.

Members of the groups Students United in the Struggle and Students United for Immigrant Rights, both based at Horlick High School, will join members of the Racine Branch of the NAACP and Voces de la Frontera for the rally.

"There is still a great civil rights struggle going on in Racine today. Part of advancing that struggle is taking time to recognize past leaders," said Jarasha Williams, a Horlick junior and student group leader, in a release. "I would like to have Martin Luther King Day to spend with my family and community celebrating the past instead of just passing another day in school."

Students at Horlick, Case and Park high schools, spent a month gathering petitions that they will deliver to the board.

The groups will meet at 6 tonight outside the district's Administrative Service Center, 2220 Northwestern Ave. The students will submit petitions to the School Board asking that the district recognize King's birthday.

Unified, like many districts in the state, observes King's actual birthday, Jan. 15. It's one of several Wisconsin public school observance days, which do not include a day off from school.

Students and community members tried unsuccessfully last year to get the board to make King's birthday a school holiday.

Beverly Hicks, former president of the Racine branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, last year told School Board members that the community could work together to make a day off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day a meaningful one.

Maria Morales, a coordinator in Racine for Voces de la Frontera, a local immigrant rights organization, said the Latino community supports this

issue.

"There is much overlap in the civil rights struggles of the past and the immigrant rights struggle today. We are proud to support the Racine Branch NAACP and the students on this issue," Morales said in a release.