T.C. Roekle is a highly respected educator who has solid leadership experience with a focus on innovative strategies to raise student and staff performance at the building and district level. T.C. is a member of the National Speakers Association; she has addressed thousands of educators at State and National Education Conferences, Technology Conferences and school communities.
In a nation where housing patterns are largely segregated, efforts to integrate schools have been a hot button in education for more than a half-century, and the Supreme Court pushed that button again this week.
Tamar Lewin, of the New York Times shares information and her thoughts in her article on June 29, 2007: Across U.S., a New Look at School Integration Efforts
Lewin writes, “After a deeply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to strike down two districts' racial integration plans, schools across the country wondered whether they must drastically change their own desegregation efforts. Although the court's four most conservative members sought to make all race-based decisions unconstitutional, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who cast the tie-breaking vote, narrowed their reach for now, saying race may sometimes be used to achieve diversity.”
Lawyers quoted in her article said the 5-to-4 ruling would not end litigation over school desegregation and may reignite it, as many school districts will have to turn to alternative methods for achieving diversity.
“The decision leaves unanswered questions about when race may be considered, and unanswered questions lead to more litigation,” said Sally Scott, a Chicago lawyer whose firm, Franczek Sullivan, represents dozens of Illinois school districts, some of which use assignment plans that consider race.
Education lawyers seem to agree that the decision most likely will lead to the consideration of income as a neutral means of achieving school diversity.
“Sharon Browne, a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative group that supported the parents suing Seattle and Louisville, said at a news conference yesterday that in addition to the foundation’s current litigation against policies in Los Angeles and Berkeley, Calif., schools, her group has identified several other districts, including Lynn, Mass., and Rochester, whose policies now seem ripe for challenge.”
Lewin describes how, “Justices disagreed bluntly with each other in 169 pages of written opinions on whether the decision supports or betrays the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling that led to the end of state-sponsored school segregation in the United States.”
Ask Yourself:
• Lewin believes the 5-4 decision, the 24th such split this term, displayed the new dominance of the court's aggressive conservative majority because the four liberal justices dissented.
Do You?
• Beginning in the 1990’s, court orders were lifted in many districts and Supreme Court judges have ruled as if the effects of past segregation had been remedied.
Do you believe the effects of past segregation have been remedied?
• Will the new Supreme Court ruling drastically change your school’s desegregation or diversity efforts?
New York Times Article, June 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/washington/29schools.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
“Experts Fear Increasing Segregation in Wake of Supreme Court Decision”
http://www.smartbrief.com/news/ascd/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=5B4E2139-90E4-4C3B-962F-6871A158E640©id=C7EB6633-68B8-4CDF-9DEC-DBD3E97FFB10&lmcid=1251202
Other related Stories from ASCD
http://www.smartbrief.com/news/ascd/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=5B4E2139-90E4-4C3B-962F-6871A158E640©id=9C87EB76-57A4-4D2A-AAB6-6E4A00D344B0&lmcid=1251202&brief=ascd
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