The Lowndes County School District will finally have its day in court, appearing today at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Oxford to argue its case for unitary status.
The district has been under U.S. Department of Justice jurisdiction since 1970 as part of a court order designed to ensure racial equality and fulfill desegregation requirements. Nationwide, 196 school districts still have open segregation cases; 47 of those districts are in Mississippi.
During today’s fairness hearing, U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills will hear arguments from the district, the Justice Department and private plaintiffs, which include school board member Jacqueline Gray’s husband, Will Gray.
The district will have to prove they have met federal requirements to end racial discrimination in student assignments, faculty and staff assignments, transportation and facilities.
But those things were accomplished years ago, said Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus. Chism, who plans to attend the fairness hearing with LCSD Superintendent Lynn Wright, served on the school board from 1989-1999.
Since that time, he has been a passionate proponent for the district’s unitary status, saying that although there have been good things to come out of the DOJ’s involvement — like the cost-savings of consolidating West Lowndes, Plum Grove and Crawford elementary schools — there have also been hurdles.
At one point, he said, New Hope Elementary’s student population increased, but the DOJ wouldn’t allow them to build a new addition. To cope with the influx of students, school administrators had to erect partitions in the gymnasium to create the needed classrooms.
If the district is approved for unitary status, the board will be able to make the decisions they feel are best, Board President Jane Kilgore said earlier in the month.
“It’s time to get it over with,” Chism said. “It’s time to quit punishing the entire district for things that happened years and years ago and allow them to go about their purpose — educating children.”
He said he does not expect Judge Mills to rule on the case today.
“I expect him to take it under advisement,” Chism said. “No federal judge wants to get overruled, especially on a school desegregation case.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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