Orfield says there’s been a growth of residentially segregated areas, especially for Hispanics, as a result of the changing population in the United States.
“There’s been a dismantling of desegregation orders that were successful in the South,” he says.
The Seattle case involves the school district’s “racial tiebreaker” policy, which was suspended in 2002. Seattle schools have an “open choice” policy that allows students to attend any school. Race was allowed to be used as one criterion for admission when demand for a specific school outpaced capacity. After White children were denied admission in favor of minority students who lived further away, angry parents argued that considering race is a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Initiative 200, a state law forbidding preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity or gender.
In Louisville, parent Crystal Meredith claims the district’s policy denied her son, Joshua, a transfer to a better school because he is White.
Francisco Negron, general counsel for the National School Board Association, says the case is about allowing local districts to decide for themselves what’s in the best interests of the students.
The LDF has launched a new section on its Web site in support of the two cases. Visit www.naacpldf. org for more details.
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