NAACP Calls Wayne Co. Schools ‘Re-Segregated’
By Kerry Hall, NBC17, 3 days, 16 hours ago
Updated: Dec. 2 2:46 am
GOLDSBORO, N.C.
The North Carolina NAACP has filed a federal complaint against the Wayne County Board of Education for racial discrimination.
The complaint, which was filed in the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday, alleges that the board's practices and policies have led to ‘extreme re-segregation' of schools.
"The County Board of Education, through its exclusionary policies and gross neglect, indifferent attitudes and failure to take corrective action, has caused and will continue to cause grave and immeasurable harm to all African American students in Wayne County," said Rev. William Barber, president of the NC NAACP.
The lawsuit claims the Wayne County Board of Education violated Title VI of the Civil Rights of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits entities that receive federal funding from discriminating because of race.
It compares schools in two of the county's six districts: the district including central Goldsboro, and a neighboring district in eastern Wayne County.
It claims the central schools-where the student population is 99.9 African-American -- face much higher drop-out and suspension rates, and lower test scores than the schools in the eastern district--- which are made up of about 90 percent Caucasian students.
Ken Derksen, spokesperson for Wayne County schools, said that the school board has yet to receive the NAACP's complaint, but that the school legally cannot, and does not, bus or assign students to schools based on their race.
"These schools are community schools, located in the communities in which the students live," he said.
Derksen also said a press release issued by the NAACP does not take into account the school system's efforts to close achievement gaps between schools.
"When you look at some of those central attendance schools, there's actually more money going into those schools, more technology, more resources than what's actually being done at some other schools because of the population of students and the challenges they students face," he said.
http://wake.mync.com/site/wake/news/story/...
Updated: Dec. 2 2:46 am
GOLDSBORO, N.C.
The North Carolina NAACP has filed a federal complaint against the Wayne County Board of Education for racial discrimination.
The complaint, which was filed in the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday, alleges that the board's practices and policies have led to ‘extreme re-segregation' of schools.
"The County Board of Education, through its exclusionary policies and gross neglect, indifferent attitudes and failure to take corrective action, has caused and will continue to cause grave and immeasurable harm to all African American students in Wayne County," said Rev. William Barber, president of the NC NAACP.
The lawsuit claims the Wayne County Board of Education violated Title VI of the Civil Rights of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits entities that receive federal funding from discriminating because of race.
It compares schools in two of the county's six districts: the district including central Goldsboro, and a neighboring district in eastern Wayne County.
It claims the central schools-where the student population is 99.9 African-American -- face much higher drop-out and suspension rates, and lower test scores than the schools in the eastern district--- which are made up of about 90 percent Caucasian students.
Ken Derksen, spokesperson for Wayne County schools, said that the school board has yet to receive the NAACP's complaint, but that the school legally cannot, and does not, bus or assign students to schools based on their race.
"These schools are community schools, located in the communities in which the students live," he said.
Derksen also said a press release issued by the NAACP does not take into account the school system's efforts to close achievement gaps between schools.
"When you look at some of those central attendance schools, there's actually more money going into those schools, more technology, more resources than what's actually being done at some other schools because of the population of students and the challenges they students face," he said.
http://wake.mync.com/site/wake/news/story/...
Here's the NAACP press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 NOVEMBER 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY
NAACP TO FILE FEDERAL TITLE VI COMPLAINT AGAINST WAYNE COUNTY (NC) PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
WHO: STATE NAACP PRESIDENT, REV. DR. WILLIAM J. BARBER, II, ATTY. AL MCSURELY, ATTY. IRV JOYNER, LEGAL REDRESS CHAIR, MS. SYLVIA BARNES, GOLDSBORO-WAYNE NAACP BRANCH IN CONJUNCTION WITH NATIONAL NAACP LEGAL DEPARTMENT
WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCING TITLE VI COMPLAINT
WHEN: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009 AT 9:00 AM
WHERE: SIDEWALK, NC DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
301 NORTH WILMINGTON STREET, RALEIGH, NC 27601
NAACP will file a federal Title VI Complaint on behalf of all children assigned to the Wayne County Public School System (Goldsboro, NC) who are deprived of a constitutional education by the policies and practices that adversely impact particularly African American and other students of color. Specifically, the practices complained of within the complaint have and, if not reversed, will continue to result in:
* Lower graduation rates for African Americans and other students of color;
* Higher drop out rates for African Americans and other students of color;
* Higher suspension rates for African Americans and other students of color;
* More and meaner discipline for African Americans and other students of color;
* Lower grade point averages for African Americans and other students of color;
* Lower college entrance rates for African Americans and other students of color;
* Lower college ambition rates for African Americans and other students of color;
* Lower gifted and talented participation by African Americans and other students of color;
* Higher placement of students of color in “special” self-contained classrooms; and
* And other well-recognized indices of structural and individual racially discriminatory school practices.
According to State President, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, “We are filing this complaint because in 2009 — 55 years after Brown v Board of Education — the Wayne County Public School System has not only had a high school (Goldsboro High School) cited as failing to meet the standards of our [state] constitution, but is operating an attendance district that is virtually 100% resegregated, failing to provide adequate education to the students therein and we believe is in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s Title VI.”
NAACP is filing the complaint simultaneously with the Office of Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education, and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice on the 54TH Anniversary of Rosa Park’s challenge to Jim Crow when she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama that led to the modern day civil rights movement.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination by government agencies that receive federal funding. If any agency is found in violation, it can lose its federal funding.
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/previ...