Pitt County Schools seeks clarification of desegregation orders from court
Pitt County Schools (PCS) in North Carolina is preparing to go to court to sort out racial requirements affecting the district for more than 30 years. The district will seek clarification of two desegregation orders issue in the 1970s. Those orders required the desegregation of Pitt County and Greenville City Schools before the two entities combined. "There are questions about what the 'language' of the orders requires of the district in 2007," PCS Superintendent Beverly Reep said. "We believe that clarification of these court orders and what they currently may require of our school system is imperative to our ability to move forward." This latest move will help the school system understand exactly where it stands with regard to those orders, an unrelated Supreme Court ruling from this summer, and a February 2006 complaint filed by the Greenville Parents Association (GPA). The GPA, a group of about 300 parents who were unhappy with the 2005 redistricting plan, filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in early 2006. In July, when the Supreme Court handed down a ruling on two other districts, the local schools' response left the group even more disgruntled. The school board has cited the original 1970s orders as its basis to continue to use race in the criteria for assigning schools, but this summer's ruling on cases in Washington state and Kentucky said race could not be used in such determinations. The district has been under investigation by the OCR since the GPA complaint was filed in 2006. Officials say a court ruling could help bring the investigation to an end. The district wants answers to two questions, said school board attorney Rob Sonnenberg: "Are the (1970s) orders still valid? And if so, what does that mean for Pitt County's school assignment plans in the future?" Mr. Sonnenberg said the process could be resolved in a few months, or it could take years. He said the district developed the idea of taking the matter to the court system to resolve, and the OCR agreed. "We do have a court order and certainly that is historically what the board has operated under," Ms. Reep said. "It is understandable to see how someone would look at that and say ‘Is it still valid?’ but the Office of Civil Rights is not the group that determines whether it is valid or not. They (the OCR) are certainly in agreement with us that the next best step is to get that back in court and get it clarified." She said that the OCR has indicated that if the court orders are no longer valid, the district will have to take steps to remedy the school assignment plans drafted in 2005. "If it is a valid court order, then we can move on," she said. "Either way, we are growing, we've got assignment decisions to make, so we really need that to be clarified. If it is a valid court order, we need to understand the court's expectations of the district."
Greenville Daily Reflector By Josh Humphries
[Editor’s Note: In a follow up article below, the Greenville Daily Reflector reports that the decision "may spark a chain of litigation" from local groups on opposite sides of the issue. The GPA’s attorney, Charles "Sonny" McLawhorn Jr., said he will file for a petition to seek a declaration of "unitary status" if the school board does not. Unitary status would mean that PCS is no longer subject to the court orders. The Pitt County Coalition for Educating Black Children (PCCEBC), believes the orders are valid and opposes seeking a declaration of unitary status. "If the Greenville Parents Association jumps into it with litigation then we have no choice but to get involved," PCCEBC Chairman Ozie Hall said. Mr. Sonnenberg said PCS officials have not yet considered seeking a declaration of unitary status and that, "We first need to seek clarification of what the orders mean." While the district’s question pre-dated the Supreme Court’s decision, information on how that decision is playing out in communities around the country is available starting at the second link.]
Greenville Daily Reflector By Josh Humphries
NSBA School Law pages on fallout from PICS v. Seattle Sch. Dist No. 1