Equity & Diversity

Judge Ready to Scrap Chicago Desegregation Order

By Darcia Harris Bowman — January 29, 2003 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The federal judge who oversees Chicago’s 22-year-old school desegregation order signaled this month that he’s ready to throw out the plan because it is “passé.”

“We need a clean slate,” U.S. District Judge Charles P. Kocoras told lawyers for the Chicago school board and the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a transcript of a Jan. 10 hearing. “The whole complexion of the city has changed. The school system has changed dramatically. So somebody tell me why this case should stay alive.”

The Chicago school board’s 1980 court-ordered desegregation plan called for the creation of racially mixed magnet schools, a 65 percent cap on white enrollment at schools, and a racial composition of each school’s faculty that falls within 15 percent of the racial makeup of the district’s total teaching force.

Judge Kocoras’ apparent interest in ending the case surprised lawyers and officials on both sides of the desegregation case, but a spokeswoman for the district said the school board should soon be ready to replace the decree with its own policies.

In late 2001, the board hired a team of consultants to review the policies adopted under the consent decree and recommend how to revise them to fit the district’s current demographic mix. The 432,000-student district’s white population is just over half what it was in 1980, and the number of Hispanic students attending city schools has climbed dramatically, according to district officials.

“The review is winding down now, and we should have recommendations in the next few months,” said district spokeswoman Joi M. Mecks. “Absent that, we’d have to start from scratch” in the event the judge decides to end the court-ordered desegregation plan.

The judge set a Feb. 27 hearing to decide the consent decree’s future.

Related Tags:

Events

Budget & Finance Webinar Leverage New Funding Sources with Data-Informed Practices
Address the whole child using data-informed practices, gain valuable insights, and learn strategies that can benefit your district.
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
Classroom Technology Webinar
ChatGPT & Education: 8 Ways AI Improves Student Outcomes
Revolutionize student success! Don't miss our expert-led webinar demonstrating practical ways AI tools will elevate learning experiences.
Content provided by Inzata
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Tech Is Everywhere. But Is It Making Schools Better?
Join us for a lively discussion about the ways that technology is being used to improve schools and how it is falling short.

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

Equity & Diversity Most Americans Think Politicians Should Stay Away From Setting Schools' LGBTQ+ Policies, Poll Finds
Most Americans think parents and teachers should have a major influence over such policies in schools, the survey also finds.
4 min read
People protesting a planned Pride month assembly and counter-protesters with Pride flags stand outside Saticoy Elementary School in Los Angeles on June 2, 2023.
People protesting a planned Pride month assembly and counter-protesters with Pride flags stand outside Saticoy Elementary School in Los Angeles on June 2, 2023.
Jae C. Hong/AP
Equity & Diversity Public Schools Are Still Segregated. But These Tools Can Help
Data show that racial and socioeconomic segregation persist, but districts may be able to seek federal help to address it.
4 min read
Dennis K. Bordley, 6, right, one of the first two black children at a previously segregated all-white school, Caesar Rodney Elementary School in Camden-Wyoming, Del., strides along with hand in pocket on the way to first grade, Sept. 9, 1959.
Dennis K. Bordley, 6, right, one of the first two Black children at a previously segregated all-white school in Camden-Wyoming, Del., makes his way to 1st grade on Sept. 9, 1959. Public schools remain deeply segregated almost 70 years after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation.
Bill Ingraham/AP
Equity & Diversity Federal Rule on Trans Athletes Is Delayed. Here's What That Means for Schools
The U.S. Department of Education announced it will not release its new Title IX rules until October, a five-month delay.
5 min read
Protesters fill the Ohio Statehouse corridor on April 19, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio in opposition to a bill that would ban transgender girls from playing in girls sports at K-12 and collegiate levels. A House education panel voted the Republican-championed measure out of committee Wednesday, May 10, along partisan lines. The full House could put it to a vote as soon as next week.
Protesters fill the Ohio Statehouse corridor on April 19, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio in opposition to a bill that would ban transgender girls from playing in girls sports at K-12 and collegiate levels. The U.S. Department of Education's proposed Title IX rule change would challenge state-level bans on transgender athletes playing sports that align with their gender identity.
Samantha Hendrickson/AP
Equity & Diversity When Graduation Dress Codes Clash With Students' Cultural Expression
Students have sued to wear culturally significant items at graduation, and some states have also passed legislation protecting the practice.
5 min read
A teen boy in a red graduation cap and gown wears an eagle feather on his neck. He stands outside among classmates.
Elijah Wiggins wears an eagle feather, a gift from his grandfather, at his graduation from Cedar City High School on May 25, 2022, in Cedar City, Utah. Utah is one of a growing number of states that have passed laws to allow students to wear items of cultural or religious significance during graduation ceremonies.
Rick Bowmer/AP