Kentucky

Here is the op-ed piece by attorney Teddy Gordon (who prevailed for the mother and child in the school case at the U.S. Supreme Court):

Attorney faults JCPS 'arrogance' Courier Journal

This latest attempt by Sheldon Berman and the Jefferson County School Board (JCPS) is extremely troubling to me and should be to every parent in this school district. That such a vital public agency that impacts all our children would willfully try to subjugate the U.S. Supreme Court and thumb their noses at our judicial system. JCPS's arrogance is not just embarrassing, but proves to our nearly 100,000 schoolchildren that their lives mean nothing to this public agency.

The questions we all (parents and guardians, lawyers, school officials, community leaders and the news media) need to be asking of Berman and every JCPS board member, principal and teacher is why.

   
Why just another shell game with the moving pieces being shuffled are our children, (and mostly African-American children) -- all for an illusion of diversity without improved educational outcome.

         

Why will once again black children (or in JCPS's new classification, "minority") be bused longer, farther and more often than white (or "non-minority") children.

Why will the majority of Black children be bused to the lower performing schools? Will a high performing school like Wilder Elementary have the same percent of minority that Whitney Young does?

            

If, in fact there are over 3000 children waiting to get into a traditional or magnet school, why aren't more traditional and magnet schools being built in the inner city instead of three new ones in the suburbs?

            

And why impose a hard percentage of 15/50, and if one of the factors is race along with home location/income and parents' education, does the race card become the determining factor in turning away black children from better performing schools.

                  

Why weren't there public forums to hear what parents and guardians want for their children before any plan was implemented. And will any upcoming public forum really change the proposed student assignment plan or are these forums and surveys just another illusion that the JCPS wants to create.

Why if JCPS has known about this since 2000, have they not come up with a better plan that improves education for every child, no matter what the color of his or her skin is.

            

It is these answers that will determine if this new student assignment plan passes constitutional -- and community -- [muster] -- or if this JCPS plan once again infringes on the rights of minorities and punishes them for their color of their skin. These answers determine whether Berman and JCPS are truly interested in doing what is best for all our children. JCPS insists on turning our children into social experiment that is not only out-dated, but worse failing our children. 

             

Instead of concentrating their efforts and resources (especially in a time of reduced federal and state budgets) on improving education for every child, this gathering of old outdated school board members and administrators along with self-designated titled of so-called experts force upon a plan that never has or will improve the education of our children.

          

The most important question every parent and guardian should ask when their child is being bused to a school they do not like is "Why." Why is my child being bused to a school that I do not approve of?

         

And demand a satisfactory answer from the principal of the school and of JCPS. Your child, every child, deserves an equal educational opportunity.

When parental choice becomes the only factor in deciding where children go to school, then all of God's children will truly be judged by the content of their character and education, not by the color of their skin.

         

Teddy B. Gordon, of Louisville, is the plaintiff's attorney in the Jefferson County School desegregation case, which was decided last summer by the U.S. Supreme Court.