SCHOOL DESEGREGATION ORDER LIFTED BY JUDGE
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, January 8, 2000
Author: Associated Press
A federal judge has lifted a 30-year-old desegregation order that required Escambia County to maintain minority enrollment around 30 percent at each school .
The settlement announced Thursday requires the school board to abide by the integration plan for another five years.
Under the 1969 order, the school board was required to inform the court and the NAACP every time the district built a new school, changed attendance zones or made any changes that could affect racial balance.
Escambia has 45,165 students - 59.5 percent white, 35.2 percent black and 5.3 percent other minorities.
School Superintendent Jim May said he believes the board's willingness to bind itself to the order for five more years is evidence the district will avoid a return to segregated classrooms.
May has proposed allowing parents and students to choose which school to attend, but he said he doesn't believe lifting the desegregation order would mean those choices would go along racial lines.
``If you check with the districts that do have school choice, I think you'll find that it helps you to more accurately achieve racial balance,'' May said.
Desegregation advocate Leroy Boyd opposed the settlement, saying it eventually will mean a return to all-white and all-black schools.
``It will set our schools back decades,'' said Boyd, who heads a group called Movement for Change. ``Escambia County's not ready to be left alone with desegregating our schools.''
Under the settlement, the school district agreed to make no changes in attendance zones or pupil assignment policies and restrict transfers that would change racial balance.
The settlement also requires integrated staffs and the continued use of site selection and school construction to eliminate vestiges of segregation.
Those policies, however, could be changed through consultation with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which brought the suit and worked on the settlement.
U.S. District Judge Lacy Collier ruled without holding a fairness hearing but invited public comment. He got only four letters.
``We were led to believe there would be a fairness hearing, but that was just ignored,'' Boyd said.
School Board member Elmer Jenkins fought for the order more than 30 years ago but said he believes Escambia is ready to maintain racial balance on its own.
``Throughout the country the sentiment is to not go back to the days of segregation,'' Jenkins said. ``If they do that, they'll be back in court.''
The settlement announced Thursday requires the school board to abide by the integration plan for another five years.
Under the 1969 order, the school board was required to inform the court and the NAACP every time the district built a new school, changed attendance zones or made any changes that could affect racial balance.
Escambia has 45,165 students - 59.5 percent white, 35.2 percent black and 5.3 percent other minorities.
School Superintendent Jim May said he believes the board's willingness to bind itself to the order for five more years is evidence the district will avoid a return to segregated classrooms.
May has proposed allowing parents and students to choose which school to attend, but he said he doesn't believe lifting the desegregation order would mean those choices would go along racial lines.
``If you check with the districts that do have school choice, I think you'll find that it helps you to more accurately achieve racial balance,'' May said.
Desegregation advocate Leroy Boyd opposed the settlement, saying it eventually will mean a return to all-white and all-black schools.
``It will set our schools back decades,'' said Boyd, who heads a group called Movement for Change. ``Escambia County's not ready to be left alone with desegregating our schools.''
Under the settlement, the school district agreed to make no changes in attendance zones or pupil assignment policies and restrict transfers that would change racial balance.
The settlement also requires integrated staffs and the continued use of site selection and school construction to eliminate vestiges of segregation.
Those policies, however, could be changed through consultation with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which brought the suit and worked on the settlement.
U.S. District Judge Lacy Collier ruled without holding a fairness hearing but invited public comment. He got only four letters.
``We were led to believe there would be a fairness hearing, but that was just ignored,'' Boyd said.
School Board member Elmer Jenkins fought for the order more than 30 years ago but said he believes Escambia is ready to maintain racial balance on its own.
``Throughout the country the sentiment is to not go back to the days of segregation,'' Jenkins said. ``If they do that, they'll be back in court.''
Edition: Final
Section: Local
Page: 5B
Dateline: PENSACOLA
Record Number: 0001110090
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
Section: Local
Page: 5B
Dateline: PENSACOLA
Record Number: 0001110090
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
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