Schools Still Trying to Rid Themselves of Segregation Label

After fifty years of being considered "too white", a federal judge decided to postpone the area's landmark decision to officially desegregate the Galveston Public School District. The reason? The sole Plaintiff needed more time to collect evidence.

As the second largest populated state in the nation, Texas boasts just under 23 million residents, with roughly 33 percent of those being of Hispanic origin (not including an estimated 1.2 million illegal residents). The remainder is divided, with the African-American portion at around 12 percent of the state's total make-up. As with any city or state rich in cultural diversity, ethnic groups tend to congregate in areas where there is a connection, whether it be religion or job related. For Galveston, that seems to be the case as there is a significantly higher portion of African-American residents living there relative to the rest of state, at over 24 percent of the total population living on the island. That being said, the local school district is still under fire for being a segregated entity following a lawsuit filed against them in 1959. Houston news reported that it expected Judge Sim Lake to make a landmark decision last Friday that would finally end the negative label. However, according to GalvestonDailyNews, that wasn't exactly the case as Lake postponed the final ruling to allow

the attorney for the sole plaintiff, more time to rebuild files that were flooded when Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston on Sept. 13.

It seems that after 50 years of evidence collecting, all information was lost with regards to the factors necessary for a court to deem a district desegregated. In June of this year, the district submitted the information necessary to make its case for desegregation and the courts must consider eight factors before officially desegregating a school. Those factors include:

student assignment/placement

faculty and staff assignment/placement

student transportation

extracurricular activities

facilities

allocation of resources

student achievement

special programs

In 1996, the district hired a Civil Rights consultant who assessed that there were some gaps between whites and blacks, including not enough black students were involved in honour societies and that too many black students were disciplined. Bell also concluded that there were too many black students in special education classes. The district made changes and upon reassessment in 2004, Bell found that many of those same problems existed, specifically in the areas of academic underachievement. To make matters worse in the situation for the district, a decline in student enrollment caused the closing of schools, which changed the overall demographics as far as percentages and requirements and Bell cited again, in 2007, that the district made an error by not informing the courts of these changes. He also stated in the most recent assessment that even with a redistricting of students, the:

same problems with teacher assignment and underachievement of minorities will remain.

most likely due to the difficulty in finding teachers to live in Galveston and the problems with underachievement that extend beyond that which schools can control. Galveston had formally integrated its schools in 1968 when it stopped running two separate high schools, and merged into the current high school, Ball. However, in 1978, courts ruled that one of the district's elementary schools had too high a percentage of African-American students, with 90 percent being black. They tried again in 1981 to become desegregated and again, they were denied because they did not meet the criteria. There are nine districts in the approximately 1,400 Texas school districts that are still considered legally segregated. However, this does not imply that students are victims of racial discrimination or receiving less of an education than their white counterparts. It simply means that the demographics and redistricting as well as special programs to assist with the high dropout rate and low academic achievement among certain groups has not yet met court standards. L.U.L.A.C. and the U.S. Department of Justice had come down on Galveston because of school closures, claiming that doing so would negatively impact minority students at a greater disadvantage than their white counterparts. However, schools cannot maintain facilities if there are not enough students to attend. On September 13, Hurricane Ike took out much of Galveston, leveling many residential areas on the island and the adjacent peninsula itself. Because of the decision to not rebuild and many residents taking up their homes elsewhere, Galveston ISD is looking to close three more schools. Judge Lake gave the plaintiff extended time earlier this year because they wanted to substitute a plaintiff. Now, additional time has been granted to allow attorney, Anthony Griffin to rebuild his files and gather "new information" against the district. Across the nation, urban schools such as some Illinois, Ohio, California and Michigan area schools boast minority populations of greater than 90 percent, making them significantly more isolated based upon demographics. A decision for Galveston's schools should come by the end of January. I