Chapter 12: School Desegregation

I.

De Jure Segregation
A. De Jure segregation is segregation that is sanctioned by law as
was the case in Brown I. (Plessy)
B. Historical Background
1. Plessy V. Ferguson 1896 established this idea of
separate but equal
2. Brown V. Board of Education 1954 this principle of
separate but equal was stuck down by the Supreme Court
a) This combine four cases from
Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware of black students
seeking admission to segregated schools in their communities
b) The states used Plessy to defend
their positions
c) Separate by equal schools based on
race are inherently unequal and unconstitutional
II.
Brown II Implementation - Apply Brown I , this ultimately fell on the local school
districts to ensure this was done at deliberate speed
A. Racial Balances and Racial Quotas
1. Start to implement a schools remedial and its
effectiveness
2. The first plans included mathematical ratios, which
were mere starting points of shaping a remedy
B. One-Race Schools
1. There are still instances where largely one part of
of the city is of largely one race and therefore the school will reflect this
2. It is those districts where there is a mixed
population that will need to be highly scrutinized
3. Start the majority to minority transfer provision transfer students must be granted free transportation and space in the
school
C. Remedial Altering of Attendance Zones
1. Develop this plan to pair and group noncontiguous
school zones in order to meet this objective of desegregation
2. Even if zones were far apart we needed to bring
them together to create schools that were desegregated.
D. Transportation of Students
1. An objection to transportation of students may be
valid when the time and distance of travel is so great as to either risk the
health or children or significantly impinge on the educational process
2. Schools are not required to make year-to-year
adjustments of the racial composition of their student bodies once the
affirmative duty to desegregate has been accomplished and racial
discrimination through official action is eliminated from the system
E. Intra-District Segregation
1. Attendance Zones

III.

IV.

a) Used gerrymandering (altering) of

school districts attendance to achieve desegregated schools.
b) Needed more than at student
assignment plan to show they were neutral, needed to show
evidence that the plan counteracted the effects of segregation
Busing and Desegregation
A. Historically
1. Busing was viewed as an effective means of
achieving desegregated schools
2. Opponents
a) Threat to the neighborhood school
concept
b) Time-consuming for students
c) Added expense to taxpayers
d) Black children were still
discriminated against and they were bearing the burden of being
transported great distances
B. Goal
1. Allowing students to attend schools near where
they lived would not effectively dismantle dual school systems
2. To achieve racial balance
3. Protect the civil rights of black students
4. Foster equality
Free Transfer and Freedom of Choice Program
A. Historical
1. Free Transfer -Permit students to transfer from a
school where they are the minority to a school where they would be in the
racial majority (resegregation)
2. Freedom of Choice plans results in sparse number
of black students attending predominantly white schools and no whites
attending predominantly black schools
B. De Jure Segregation
1. Define - racial segregation derived from the
enforcement of laws
2. Illegal and unconstitutional
a) Initiated or supported by
governmental action
b) With an intent or motive to
discriminate
c) Results in increasing or creating
segregation
C. De Facto Segregation
1. Define - when a substantial number of students
enrolled in a school represent a racial or ethnic minority (no action by the
school district)
2. School districts are not required to take corrective
action in cases where racial imbalances have developed within the

V.

schools of the district as a result of housing patterns and uniform

application of school zoning
3. Courts will not support unequal facilities, programs,
and staffs in predominantly black schools (responsive action)
D. Faculty Desegregation
1. Integration Plan
a) Established a goal for each school
within the district that called for assigning approximately the same
ratio of black and white teachers as the ratio existing in the school
district as a whole.
b) This is a slow process
c) School districts were required to
formulate non racial objective criteria for retention and
employment of teachers and to apply them equally to all teachers.
E. Student Classifications and Desegregated Public Schools
1. Public schools appear to be gradually
resegregating
2. Segregated schools produce racial isolation for
black and latino students who typically attend schools that are separate
and unequal
a) Poorly funded
b) Students from low socio-economic
backgrounds
3. Courts are trying to encourage racial diversity in
schools
a) Providing limited options that
schools can choose
F. Latino Students and Racial Diversity
1. Students deprived of English instruction are denied
an opportunity for meaningful education
2. Equal Opportunities Act of 1974
a) Requires states to take appropriate
steps to assist students attempting to master skills in English to
keep pace with their English speaking classmates
3. Schools are doing very little to provide
desegregated educational experiences for Latino students
a) Students are not meeting their AYP
goals due to invalid and unreliable assessment of their academic
achievement
NCLB and Civil Rights

A. Equal educational opportunity for all children irrespective of race or

socioeconomic status
B. Focus on disadvantaged, high-poverty, high-minority, and students with
disabilities (students who have been traditionally neglected)
C. Focus on closing the achievement gap, improving student achievement,
and changing the culture of schools in America Seeking Unitary Status

D. Unitary status - where school officials are claiming that good faith efforts
have been initiated to achieve desegregated schools; therefore, they should be
relieved of court supervision
E. Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Dowell
1. Injunction mandating a school
desegregation plan
1. Board adopted the Student
Reassignment Plan (SRP)assigned students in K through
four to their neighborhood schools and continued busing for
grades five through twelve
E. Freeman v. Pitts
1. Unlawful segregated schools in 1969
2. Federal district court has the latitude to order
incremental withdrawal of its supervision and control
F. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
1. Courts must assess what a school district has
or has not done in good faith to meet its obligation to desegregate
G. If one-race schools are present due to no fault of the district but base on
shifts in demographics beyond the control of the district they are not necessarily illegal
as long as de jure segregation is not present