N.J. Towns Seek Home-Grown Desegregation Plan

By Caroline Hendrie

If there were ever any doubts about how the school systems surrounding Englewood, N.J., felt about merging with their troubled neighbor, the events of last fall laid them firmly to rest.

In one northeastern New Jersey suburb, parents from a rainbow of ethnic groups marched through the streets chanting their opposition to a mandatory consolidation with Englewood.

In another, residents signaled their devotion to local control by adorning trees with orange ribbons--their high school's team color--in a tactic that some likened to burning crosses on lawns. And in hearings across eastern Bergen County, throngs of sign-waving residents warned state officials that they would fiercely resist any effort to desegregate Englewood's high...