Alabama school district sued for racial segregation of students

[Sage Ninja]

http://news.msn.com/us/alabama-schoo...on-of-students

Parents are suing an Alabama school district, claiming a program allowing "parent choice" for their children's classmates and teachers is segregation.


An Alabama public school district accused of re-segregating students along racial lines is being sued in federal court by parents and a former teacher who allege the board created "racially engineered" learning environments.

The Troy City Board of Education as well as five school board members and two school administrators are named in the suit. It alleges that a 2008 program allowing "parent choice" in selecting their children's pupils and teachers is discriminatory.


Alabama school district sued for racial segregation: Map locates Troy, AlabamaMCT and MSN News

In the complaint, lead plaintiff John Johnson claims his son's school quickly became divided between either all-black or all-white classes at Troy Elementary School.

The complaint states: "In a few instances the Troy City School District disregarded requests by Caucasian parents to place their child with African-American teachers."

The court has not decided whether the school intentionally segregated the students.

Related:Georgia high school students unite against segregated prom

Despite the fact that African-American teachers only account for 22 percent of the district's entire teacher pool in 2009-2010, they ended up teaching 80 percent of the exclusively African-American classes that year, according to the complaint.

In the 2012-2013 academic year, there were 12 all-African-American classes. But there was only one such classroom when the parent choice policy went into effect in 2008-2009, parents allege.

"They even have racially segregated kindergarten classes," said civil-rights attorney Eric Hutchins, who filed the suit on behalf of concerned parents and teachers. "This is like going back to the 1950s. You can't tell me you have standardized tests to base putting kindergarteners in all-black classes."

Dejerilyn King Henderson, a retired African-American teacher from Troy Elementary School, said the policy meant her last three years as a first-grade teacher were spent in front of children of the same race.

"I approached the administration about it several times, and each time I was told they were not going to place any Caucasian children in my classroom," Henderson told MSN News, adding there were about 18 kids in each class.

The district's school system serves 2,087 students, of which 62 percent are African-American and 32 percent, Caucasian.

Hutchins alleges there were situations in which a white family wanted to have their child integrated with a black classroom, but their choice was "usurped" by administrators.

Dona Matthews, an educational psychologist and founding director of the Center for Gifted Studies and Education at New York's Hunter College, said diversity in the classroom is healthy for childhood development.

"Generally speaking, most kids benefit from diversity and inclusion," she said. "The more kids experience different points of views and ways of being, the better equipped they will be as adults to thrive in an increasingly diverse world."

Neither the Troy City Board of Education nor the board's superintendent, Lee Hicks, responded to a request for comment.

However, Hicks told an Alabama CBS affiliate station that the policy isn't about race, but parental choice.

"Parents want to feel like their students are with some of their friends," Hicks said. "But again, this is not just for one group or another group. This is open to all parents."

Henderson said a demonstration by parents opposing the district's policy will be held in front of Troy Elementary on Monday morning.

oh boy...

[The Stryker]

Alrighty then

[Katie]

I wonder if this would be news if it was happening in Illinois.

It's stupid to run a school system like that. Opens the door for all sorts of bad impressions of the state.

[BubblyShell22]

This doesn't surprise me as there are people who still hold fast to their ideals that segregation is a good thing.

[Leo656]

Some schools in Georgia still had segregated proms until this past spring. It's more common than people think.

As a white person who pays attention, I think it's laughable to suggest we as a culture are significantly less-racist than we were 50-100 years ago. I see and hear people being racist almost every day (although thankfully, a lot less in the past few years since I got out of the furniture-moving business). What I think has changed is not that people are less racist, it's that by and large they know they're not supposed to be, and are at least a little ashamed of it, and keep it more to themselves. When I was a mover I was around all different types of people, and you'd be surprised how many doctors, lawyers, and even teachers would have some variation of "Wow, I had no idea they'd send all white guys!" as soon as you got out of the truck. It's still everywhere.

Where I see it most often is in the extremes, the mostly-poor and mostly-rich areas. The lower-class types blame everyone who's "different" for their lives being not perfect, but surprisingly I've noticed more overt racism coming from more affluent and "better educated" whites, many of whom don't so much hate minorities as much as they do think they are "better" than them. But that may be an extension of them simply feeling superior the everyone who's not at their income level, more so than race.

Point is, the only things I've seen change in my lifetime are people's willingness to be racist *in public*. When they think they aren't being judged, people will still say and do all kinds of stupid sh*t. In the case of these schools in Alabama and Georgia and elsewhere, I can only assume their rationale is that everyone already kind of knows people down there are generally pretty racially biased, so they figured segregating kids would be ok as long as THEY did it. It's like going to a McDonald's, you know you're going to get sh*t food; in the South, you kind of know what kind of people you're dealing with.

I'm amazed how LONG it has taken for this to get national attention, though. I mean, we have the internet now; it's not like people are segregated information-wise. Seems like people in the South will go a long way to keep things under wraps as far as what really goes on down there. Not shocking, but pretty shameful.

[Katie]

Leo, have you ever even been in the South? In Alabama or Georgia? Most people down here most certianly are not racists or prone to racist behavior. Sure, their are dumb a$ses here just like everywhere else, but I don't think it is more accepted here. Or more widespread.

The two most racist people I have ever met in my life were from the midwest and the northeast. The most racially segregated area I've ever seen in my life was in California.

I think how that city handles their school system is idiotic. The prom thing was stupid too, but that was not an institutional policy. Proms in that city were put on privately. Not by the school. Just by the comments I can tell that it furthers a stereotype that all southerners are racist or accepting of racist behavior or that we prefer segregation. It simply is not true. But we still have to suffer for the sins that happened nearly 50 f*cking years ago.

Don't assume sh!t about a whole area of the country if your only experience is TV movies and spotlights on random ignorant behavior.

[Katie]

You didn't read all his post if you think he was no singling out the south for being more prone or accepting:

Originally Posted by Leo656

In the case of these schools in Alabama and Georgia and elsewhere, I can only assume their rationale is that everyone already kind of knows people down there are generally pretty racially biased, so they figured segregating kids would be ok as long as THEY did it. It's like going to a McDonald's, you know you're going to get sh*t food; in the South, you kind of know what kind of people you're dealing with.

I'm amazed how LONG it has taken for this to get national attention, though. I mean, we have the internet now; it's not like people are segregated information-wise. Seems like people in the South will go a long way to keep things under wraps as far as what really goes on down there. Not shocking, but pretty shameful.

I'm sick of people who have never set foot in the South making blanket assumptions about everyone who lives here.