Desegregation lawsuit lawyers ask to see judge

New district raises questions

Attorneys for black students in the long-running Pulaski County federal school desegregation lawsuit want a conference with the judge to discuss "urgent" concerns, including the operation of the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.

Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, and Robert Pressman of Lexington, Mass., told U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. that the matters to be raised include the forthcoming Sept. 15 election of School Board members for the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski district and the compliance of people who are "bringing a new district to life" with the desegregation obligations contained in the Pulaski County Special School District's desegregation Plan 2000.

The federal judge did not respond to the attorneys' request Friday.

Also of concern, the attorneys said, are steps to create other new school districts in the territory of the Pulaski County Special district that are likely to "leave the re-shaped district without resources adequate to continue operation" once the district is declared unitary or in compliance with its desegregation plan.

Regarding the election, the attorneys for black students known as the Joshua intervenors objected to the School Board election zone plan of five people being elected from single-member elections zones and two people being elected at-large, or by voters across the entire Jacksonville/North Pulaski district.

The five zones encompass larger geographic areas than a seven single-member zone plan and have the potential for diluting the participation of black voters, in conflict with federal law, the attorneys said.

"Joshua is informed that the State Board of Education and county election commissioners approved the 5-2 plan without adequate discussion of the implications of alternatives or [federal law] compliance," they wrote.

The attorneys put before the judge their concerns about the number of students attending Jacksonville area schools arrested this past school year. Twenty-nine black students at Jacksonville High School were arrested this past year, as were six at Jacksonville Middle School and three at North Pulaski High, according to an exhibit attached to the attorneys' request for a conference.

"The document demonstrates the gross racial disparity regarding the most cruel discipline, incarceration, particularly of African-American males," the attorneys wrote about the exhibit.

The attorneys further accused the Jacksonville district, which remains under the operation of the Pulaski County Special district for another year, of making a racially discriminatory and nepotistic hiring of Bobby E. Lester, who is director of federal programs at the Arkansas Department of Education.

Lester was selected over Janice Walker, a principal at Dupree Elementary in Jacksonville.

Walker received a slightly higher score for the job of assistant superintendent for human resources/support services than did Lester, according to an exhibit attached to the request for a conference with the federal judge.

But Lester was selected for the job by new Jacksonville Superintendent Tony Wood because of Wood's familiarity with Lester and Lester's range of experience, which includes working with federal programs. That's according to a letter Wood wrote to Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board members.

Lester has since turned down the job. He is the son of Bobby G. Lester, who was until this week the interim superintendent of the new district and who did not participate in the selection.

John Walker and Pressman raised as a concern the state Board of Education's recent deliberations on school district boundary lines in Pulaski County. The attorneys said the state Education Board intends to break up the county into smaller districts as soon as the court releases the Pulaski County Special district from the desegregation lawsuit.

"No state entity should be organizing/leading an effort to denude PCSSD of the resources it needed to attain unitary status, in the near term after a court ruling of attainment of that status," the attorneys wrote.

The attorneys said Marshall should evaluate the situation in light of previous federal court rulings that looked at the impact of "splinter districts" on the ability of an existing district to meet its desegregation and equal opportunity obligations.

Metro on 07/04/2015

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