Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Nov. 4, 1999, edition 1 / Page 11
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1 Court rulings mampagt A1 Whites are not singled out for dif ftrent treatment, they are all sub ject to being denied a transfer lequest soley on the basis of their Ctce Any racial classification, ipcluding that present here, must survive strict scrutiny review; fail ing such review manifests a viola tion of Jacob's constitutional rights. ... Strict scrutiny review requires the racial classification to pero a compelling governmental interest and be narrowly tailored tp achieve that interest. ... " .? The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule on whether facial/ethnic diversity is a com pelling state interest, because the *.S. Supreme Court has not decided that issue. "J On the second issue, The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Montgomery County Board of Education's race-based ?classification was not narrowly lljulored and was unconstitutional, f* The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals referred to a decision by tjte 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Spangler vs. Pasadena Board of Education: "The (Ninth Circuit [Court) recognized the Supreme [Court's emphasis on the idea 'that rn a large percentage of minor students in a neighborhood ycnool results from housing pat ents for which school authorities aire not responsible, the school iboard may not be charged with [unconstitutional discrimination if p racially neutral assignment method is adopted." The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals continued, "Thus, in the situation before us, if racial isola tion, meaning low or high percent ages of either racial minorities or non-minorities, may be feared because transfer requests are granted to students when the assigned and requested schools are both stable at appropriate uti lization levels, any found racial imbalance should not be a vestige of a prior de jure (as a matter of law) system. If racial imbalance occurs in some of the Mont gomery County schools because students like Jacob, for example, are permitted to transfer to mag net schools to get a better educa tion, any racial or ethnic imbal ance is a product of 'private choic es (and) it does not have constitu tional implications' (Freeman v. 1 IliO/. The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decided the Tuttle vs. Arlington County School Board case on Sept. 24. The ruling says: "The question before this Court is whether an oversubscribed public school may use a weighted lottery in admissions to promote racial and ethnic diversity in its student body." The court ruled, "It is clear that the policy engages in racial balancing. The School Board attempted to distinguish its policy by arguing that, unlike other pro grams where a percentage of spots is reserved solely for minorities, this program allows every appli cant, regardless of race, to com pete for every available Spot. The School Board also argued that it was not engaging in straight racial balancing because of the devia tion inherent in the lottery. "We conclude that these are distinctions without differences. Although the policy does not explicitly set aside spots solely for certain minorities, it has practical ly the same result by skewing the odds of selection in favor of cer tain minorities. Even if the final results may have some statistical variation, what drives the entire weighted lottery process - the determination of whether it applies and the values of its weights - is racial balancing. The Policy's two goals, to provide stu dents with educational benefits of diversity and to help the School Board better serve the diverse groups of students in its district, do not require racial balancing." Punger said he believes the U.S. 4th Circuit Court's rulings in Eisenberg vs. Montgomery Coun ty Public Schools and Tuttle vs. Arlington County School Board generally give support to the Win ston-Salem/Forsyth County school system's position regarding its Choice Pupil Assignment Plan. However, he saicl, "we currently have a racial preference rule that's probably a problem." He said, "We're revisiting our policy." History of Schools of Choice Assignment Plan Punger wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to an official of i Presbyterian Church USA: "Beginning in the late 1980's the community and the (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School) Board began to question the legality and appropriateness of assigning students to schools on the basis of race. There were a number of federal court decisions around the country in the late 1980's and early 1990's that raised serious questions about the legali ty of these policies after a school district had been declared 'uni tary.' "Pupil assignment was a piv otal issue in the 1994 election of the WS/FC Board of Education. The majority of the Board that took office in 1994 supported the implementation of a new pupil assignment (plan). Dr. Donald Martin, the new superintendent, brought to the Board, for its con sideration, a new concept in pupil assignment referred to as 'school choice' or 'controlled choice.' "After considerable study of the choice plans in other districts and a series of eight public hear ings, the Board adopted a con trolled choice plan for implemen tation in phases beginning with the 1995-96 school year. We did not fully implement the plan until this fall, the 1999-2000 school yean ui._ J_ ? ? .- _. -l * ? -1 in developing mis pian. me Board set as a goal, not a quota, that the racial composition of each school should be within (plus or minus) 20% of the School Dis trict's racial ratio. As indicated on the enclosed chart, most of our schools have met or are close to meeting the Board's goal without the use of forced (busing). "Dr. (Carlton) Eversley (of the Winston-Salem NAACP chapter) reported that our plan has 'result ed not only in the near total reseg regation of the district, but signif icant losses of both financial and personnel resources to the poor est, most vulnerable, exploded and oppressed Black children, dumped and languishing in the inner city.' "These accusations range from gross exaggerations of the truth to totally false statements. "It is true that more schools are racially identifiable than they were in the past but it is not true that WS/FC schools are 'totally resegregated: "Most inner city schools, wliich we have termed 'Equity+ schools,' receive more not less financial and other resources than suburban or rural schools. "The teachers who agree to work in Equity+ schools receive a 20% salary bonus, which has resulted in a fair and equitable dis tribution of qualified and experi enced staff members at those schools. "Minority children have not been 'exploited' nor 'dumped' in inner city schools. For the first time in more than 25 years minor ity parents have been empowered to choose the school their children attend. Based on the choices they made, the overwhelming majority is happy with their choices. More Equity+ schools made their expected growth under North Carolina ABC Accountability Program than non-Equity+ schools. "We agree that access to a quality education is every child's right. We believe our schools of choice plan assures every child, both black and white, that right by empowering them to choose the school their child attends. If any parent believes that his/her child is not receiving a quality education, that parent has the right to send their child to one of the other schools in his/her zone, with trans portation. "Dr. Eyersley has yet to speci fy what type of pupil assignment policy he and his supporters pre fer instead of the schools of choice plan. However, if his goal is 'racially balanced' schools, that can be accomplished only by the use of race-based pupil assign ment polices that utilize satellite attendance zones and forced bus ing. It is our belief that the citi zens of Forsyth County, both black and white, no longer want that type of pupil assignment pol icy. "If the Presbyterian Church is so concerned about the integra tion of the public schools, perhaps the church should consider adopt ing a nation-wide policy of inte grating its Sunday Schools. Per haps children should be 'assigned' by the local session to the various churches throughout a communi ty to produce racially balanced Sunday schools. "In the alternative, the mem bers of the clergy could use their sermons as a tool to motivate members of the Church to send their children to integrated schools, both public schools and ? 1 Sunday Schools. WS/FCS would sincerely welcome the support of voluntary integration by Dr. Ever sley and all other members of the clergy in Forsyth County, North Carolina. "In the final analysis, WS/FCS pupil assignment policy is very similar to the policy of every reli gious organization in our country. The Constitution grants every parent, parishioner, and citizen the right to choose which religious institution he/she wishes to attend. (Is it) the position of the Presbyterian Church that parents should not be granted the same right to choose the school that their children will attend?" Punger also wrote, "Having reviewed the rationale in support of the Resolution submittal by Dr. Eversley, it confirmed my sus picion that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA: 1. Did not have the facts or even the correct facts when it made its decision; 2. Did not hear or con sider both sides of this important public policy issue; and 3. Did not grant my client, which was elected by the citizens of Forsyth County, NC, the opportunity to be heard ? before passing the Resolution. "Due process is a fundamental concept of our constitutional democracy. Giving both sides notice of an impending decision and the right to be heard is essen tial for any governing body to make fair and impartial decisions. In the absence, of due process, decisions may be made on half truths, misinformation and/or false information. I would assume that a body as august as the Gen eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA would want to hear from both sides before supporting a lawsuit against the duly elected representatives of the people of a school district. "The members of the Commit tee or General Assembly that voted in support of this resolution have a right to hear all the facts and the position of my client...." Eversley has said that the school's system's redistricting plan has led to the resegregation of schools. Eversley wrote in recent columns in The Chronicle: "The NAACP does not believe this School Board and this super intendent will do right by our all black schools without the coercive power of a lawsuit; nor will they show any real interest in desegre gating all of this county's schools without a lawsuit. We believe underlying all of this is a steadfast devaluing of the black communi ty's parents, administrators, teach ers, students, pastors, business persons, etc." "The NAACP has always known there is deep ambivalence in the black community about busing for racial balance. There are hundreds and thousands of black people who feel it's absolutely necessary for black and white children to go to school together. There may be an equal number of black folk who feel that's not important at all as long as the black schools have equal resources. We don't believe these two groups will ever agree, but we believe both groups ought to sup port our lawsuit. > "This is so because if you're in the second 'equal resources' group, you must understand that Jl equity of resources has to be ; negotiated, in good faith, between ? the black community and the school system. Those of us in the NAACP (especially President Bill Tatum and myself) who've fought to negotiate with the majority of the School Board and Superinten dent Donald Martin for the last five years do not believe we can ' trust them to do so in good faith without a club of coercion we can wield at them such as the lawsuit. These matters have real conse quences for the children attending our schools. "Often, we use Atkins Middle School as an example of what happens to our students under the board's and Dr. Martin's redis tricting resegregation scheme. When Atkins was brought into this plan in the last school year, large numbers of 'exceptional ? children' (students with behav ioral, educational or emotional ! difficulties) were dumped into a { * Atkins from several feeder ele mentary schools. Virtually all of these schools stopped providing any exceptional services (counsel ing, individual education plans, etc.) and simply shifted them to Atkins. "Additionally, when Atkins was a desegregated school, the PTA fund-raiser netted between SI0,000 and $12,000. Last year as a resegregated school, the money was about a tenth of the previous year's What did this mean in the lives of Atkins students in the class of 1998-99? Seniors had been taking a beach trip. There was no trip. Graduates had been getting a middle school yearbook. There was no yearbook. Ball ; ? c... from page A5 move forward. That's what's really important - taking steps to make the university the best in the nation." Carter-Rozier was supported by a host of alumni who traveled from New York for homecoming festivities. "Its the energy I get from com ing back that makes me come to the school that gave me some of my greatest memories," said Lulu King, a 1955 graduate. King sat at a table filled with members of her class. Many attend homecoming annually. A few like King, who has attended 10 times, come as often as they can. "1 saw a boy 1 helped raise," she said. "Where else can you see something like that?" Gladys Wilson, one of the event's organizers, deemed the ball was a huge success. Wilson spent most of the night rushing about the expansive ballroom, making sure everyone was having a good time. "We're so glad people came out to support the university," she said. "I think everyone's just looking forward to seeing people they haven't seen for a long time." The Chronicle's e-mail address is: wschron@netunlimited.net I THE GOOD LIFE AT A GREAT PRICE. G . 1/ . ? V \ ? " ; ???'- ?:??, V \ one day only Saturday, november 6 extended store hours! 9am to 10pm everything even sale pricps j 1 plus save 30o/oon % outerwear for the family "J / \ it's our store but it's your sale jr S. - + ?' ? ' ? i
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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