Segregation in Mississippi Public Schools in 2010?

[CW&M Mom]

Good Grief...did Mississippi forget what decade it is ??

http://a.abcnews.com/Politics/segreg...662Segregation in Mississippi Public Schools in 2010? 23&page=2


A federal judge in Mississippi has ordered a school district in the state to change school attendance policies that he said amount to racial segregation.
A judge on Tuesday ordered a small south Mississippi school district to stop allowing hundreds of white students to transfer out of majority black schools, calling the practice a violation of a desegregation order and federal law.
(Getty Images)

The Justice Department had been investigating the Walthall County school district for several years, alleging what it called was a "flagrant violation" of a desegregation court order from 1970.
Federal District Judge Thomas Lee agreed with the Justice Department's claim that the school administration was transferring mostly white students out of district to a "racially identifiable white school," while the enrollment in their home district "has become predominantly black."
Prosecutors charged "that District annually permits over three hundred transfer students -- the vast majority of whom are white to attend Salem Attendance Center even though they reside in the Tylertown attendance zone."



As a result of these transfers, Salem Attendance Center has allegedly become a racially identifiable white school while the student enrollment of the Tylertown schools has become predominately black," the judge wrote.
The district allegedly also "clustered" students in the individual schools, creating a "disproportionate numbers of white students into designated classrooms" at elementary schools in Tylertown, "resulting in significant numbers of segregated, all-black classrooms at each grade level."
Calls to Danny McCallum, the superintendent of education for Walthall County and Conrad Moore, the lawyer representing the county, were not returned today.
In November 2007, the Justice Department requested information from the school district to determine if it was in compliance with the 1970 desegregation order.
The Justice Department proposed a consent decree to remedy fixes to the school board's practices, but according to a Justice Department brief filed in the case, "on September 8, 2009, the Walthall County School Board rejected the United States' consent decree without proposing an alternative solution or inviting further negotiation."


Justice Department: Unacceptable to Encourage or Tolerate Resegregation

In a statement, Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said, "More than 55 years after Brown v. Board of Education, it is unacceptable for school districts to act in a way that encourages or tolerates the resegregation of public schools. We will take action so that school districts subject to federal desegregation orders comply with their obligation to eliminate vestiges of separate black and white schools."





Today's order by District Court Judge Tom S. Lee follows last week's notice by the school district, "that it does not intend to file a response to the United State's Motion for Further Relief."


The judge's order signed today calls for the policy to be reversed and for more oversight and specific guidelines under which student transfers must be approved.
Before the 2007 issue there had been other problems, noting how the district used duplicate bus routes to transport children. Going back to the late 1980s, records show that the school district spent about $54,000 a year running duplicate bus routes to transfer children to different school districts.







I'm just disgusted :sad:

[beth119]

Not only should the school be ashamed, but so should the parents who transfers their kids...

[CouponSAHM]

I was in Jr. High while stationed at an Air Force Base in Mississippi. We were bussed past 3 schools in order to attend a predominatly black school, so that the quotas would look better. When the highschool was deemed to be not racially diverse enough, they split the two highschools in the city to a 9th-10th and an 11th-12th. Once again bussing in extreme directions. Now as an adult in a different state, I have watched the school zoning change time and again when rural areas have become to white. They will restructure and bus the students back to more urban areas so as to have a better balance. I am personally for a voucher system that would allow for choice of school to attend.

[faeryedark]

I was in Jr. High while stationed at an Air Force Base in Mississippi. We were bussed past 3 schools in order to attend a predominatly black school, so that the quotas would look better. When the highschool was deemed to be not racially diverse enough, they split the two highschools in the city to a 9th-10th and an 11th-12th. Once again bussing in extreme directions. Now as an adult in a different state, I have watched the school zoning change time and again when rural areas have become to white. They will restructure and bus the students back to more urban areas so as to have a better balance. I am personally for a voucher system that would allow for choice of school to attend.

Me too. Who wants to be stuck on a bus for long periods of time? Not to mention, teacher quality (and the quality of the curriculum) often varies from school to school.
We live smack in the middle between 2 schools and I chose the one not nearest to the housing projects. Sorry, the school my son goes to is newer, cleaner, and has better teachers and fewer discipline problems. Has nothing to do with the race of the kids (both are pretty varied) but the environment the kids grow up in.

[loaslaen]

I'm all for school choice.

[momof2inohio]

This doesn't surprise me. They still have segregated proms in Mississippi.

[shaeharbin]

This doesn't surprise me. They still have segregated proms in Mississippi.

For real??? I never knew that!

[loaslaen]

This doesn't surprise me. They still have segregated proms in Mississippi.

I think they should have segregated proms too. One for those who like pop/r&b and another for those who like country.

[couponfan]

This doesn't surprise me. They still have segregated proms in Mississippi.

Where in Mississippi are you talking about? Because I live in Ms and have never heard of having a segregated prom.
I attended public school for grades 1st thru 12th, and my school district had to bus in black students so that we would have enough in our district.

[CW&M Mom]

Where in Mississippi are you talking about? Because I live in Ms and have never heard of having a segregated prom.
I attended public school for grades 1st thru 12th, and my school district had to bus in black students so that we would have enough in our district.

'Prom Night in Mississippi' reveals racial divides - CNN.com