A 1980 federal desegregation case may result in more than 300
minority students in Chicago attending schools with the whitest
enrollments next semester, but it's too late for integration in the
nation's third-largest public school district. It's a matter of
demographics. Around 91 percent of the 431,000 students enrolled in the
city's public schools are non-white. The opportunity to achieve racial
balance system-wide evaporated over the last generation as white
families moved to the suburbs throughout the 1960s, '70s and '80s --
but a 24-year-old desegregation battle is still being waged in the
courts. Two weeks ago U.S. District Judge Charles P. Kocoras gave
Chicago's public schools 10 days to find seats for African-American and
Hispanic children in substantially white public schools. The judge said
administrators failed to offer any racial transfers to integrate
schools last fall. "It's hard to believe there are no open seats," said
Kocoras after CPS said it had done everything within its power to
promote integration. [more]
Separate But Better? A
Philadelphia-area school district is considering opening an
African-centered charter school to boost the low test scores of its
Black students and offer an alternative to the European-based curricula
taught in public schools. [more]
Board to consider 'African-centered' school [more]
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