Federal Court issues order in Pickens County school desegregation case
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 3, 2006
Federal District Judge Karon Owen Bowdre, Northern District of Alabama, today issued an order in the ongoing school desegregation case Lee v. Macon (Pickens County School System) that will keep the Carrollton school open for students in kindergarten through grade 6. The order, based on a settlement agreement by the parties involved, helps to resolve issues of racial justice in a poor, rural community where residents worked hard to keep their school.
The Pickens County Board of Education had decided earlier this year to close the Carrollton Unit School, which served kindergarten through grade 12 students. Until recent years, Carrollton had the most integrated school in a district in which public schools in Aliceville are mostly African American and schools in Gordo are predominantly white. Beginning in the 2000/2001 school year, attendance at Carrollton dropped as board members talked about possibly closing the school. References to closure created instability and insecurity. Students and teachers began to leave the school, and the board neglected to order repairs and renovations to the facility. Highly qualified teachers were transferred to other schools.
The board was required to seek Court approval for the closure because Pickens County schools are still subject to a desegregation order as part of Lee v. Macon (Pickens County Board of Education), the case that was brought to compel compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
Judge Bowdre’s order states, “The Pickens County Board of Education shall make every good faith effort to work with Carrollton Elementary School personnel, students, parents and community leaders to make Carrollton Elementary School a viable, vibrant school.”
Under the court order:
Kindergarten through grade 6 classes will remain in Carrollton in the renamed Carrollton Elementary School.
The Pickens County School Board will allow county-wide open enrollment for all students who want to attend Carrollton Elementary School.
The Pickens County School Board will conduct a feasibility study to find out whether it should return part or all of grades 7 through 12 to Carrollton.
Students in grades 7 through 12 who participate in extracurricular activities in their new schools will receive transportation back to Carrollton.
The order sets minimum staffing levels for the elementary school and initial assignments.
The private plaintiffs in this case, including parents and students in Carrollton, were represented by Ernestine S. Sapp of Gray, Langford, Sapp, McGowan, Gray & Nathanson of Tuskegee and Martha Morgan, cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Alabama.
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