Education

Appeal Set on Duval County Busing Ruling

October 26, 1988 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plans to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the Duval County, Fla., school system, which includes Jacksonville, has achieved unitary status.

Observers say the naacp has a major stake in the outcome of the appeal, because Duval County is the largest school district in the nation to have won a unitary ruling after school officials declared their intention to return to neighborhood schools.

With some 45,000 of its 105,000 students being bused daily to meet desegregation requirements, Duval County “probably does more cross-town busing than any district in the country,” said Herb A. Sang, superintendent of schools.

In his ruling last month, U.S. District Judge John H. Moore 2nd appeared to accept the conclusions of studies that found that students with the longest bus rides did less well academically than those who lived near their schools.

Noting that test scores of black students in the county have im4proved significantly, the judge said: “The court believes that the legacy of the Brown cases is to achieve results in this field rather than in some statistical perfection in percentages of racial balance.”

Part of Reorganization

According to Mr. Sang, the district plans to adopt a neighborhood-school assignment policy at the same time that it changes back to a traditional structure of elementary, junior, and senior high schools, following the completion of a $330-million school-construction program.

He said he had “not heard a single parent, black or white, indicate anything other than praise for the direction we’re going,” even though some schools are likely to become more racially imbalanced under the new plan.

The appeal, he added, is being led by national naacp officials who “are more concerned about case law than about the people who live here.”

“That’s nonsense,” responded Michael Sussman, the New York-based lawyer who is representing the8naacp in the case. Mr. Sussman called Judge Moore’s ruling “some of the most erroneous law I’ve ever read.”

Development in Memphis

In an unrelated development in another school-desegregation case, civil-rights leaders in Memphis, Tenn., are considering asking a federal judge to consolidate their district with that of Shelby County, which includes Memphis and some of its suburbs.

The n.a.a.c.p. and the naacp Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. are currently soliciting the opinions of local officials on the plan, which has already garnered the support of some Memphis school officials, according to Maxine Smith, executive director of the Memphis chapter of the n.a.a.c.p. and a member of the city’s school board.

The Memphis city schools have a 107,000-student enrollment that is 78 percent black, while the Shelby County schools have almost 35,000 students, 15 percent of whom are black, she said.--ws

A version of this article appeared in the October 26, 1988 edition of Education Week as Appeal Set on Duval County Busing Ruling

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read