N.J. District Settles Case On Race Bias

By Mark Walsh

Washington

Washington

Heading off a looming showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court over affirmative action, the Piscataway, N.J., school board agreed late last week to settle a race-discrimination lawsuit filed by a white teacher laid off in favor of a black colleague.

In a move that caught many observers off guard, the Piscataway board voted 5-3 last Thursday to settle its dispute with Sharon Taxman, a white business education teacher who was laid off in 1989 so the district could retain Debra Williams, the only black teacher in the business education department...