Changes in the Educational Status of Minority Students

1. Changes in the Educational Status of Minority Students in New Hanover County Public Schools since Brown vs. the Board of Education (May 17, 1954) By: George Brake & Melissa Dickerson

2. What is it “all” about? • Documented historical changes of the educational status of minority students in the New Hanover County public school systems

3. Three Divisions in Time • 1954-1974: Resistance to the federal requirement to desegregate schools. • 1975-1993: Achieving “racial balance” • 1993-2003: The Board realized that more was needed than just desegregation to alter the educational status of minorities. Thus, the Board began to focus on the individual students. For example, addressing the problem of closing the achievement gap.

5. North Carolina Pupil Enrollment Act • Assignments of students could not be made on the basis of race • New Hanover County School Policy 1963-64

6. Brown vs. The Board of Education (1954) • African American students wanted to attend the public schools which were closed to them by the “separate but equal” law. • Court Decision: “separate but equal” is null and void; all school systems should begin the desegregation of their schools.

7. The Eaton Court Case (1964-1983) • Plaintiffs (led by Dr. Hubert A. Eaton, Sr.) requested that the New Hanover County school system end all segregation and discrimination in the schools • Lengthy court case • The court frequently mandated orders directing the Board of Education towards the steps needed to bring about desegregation in the New Hanover County school system

8. Eaton Court Case Decisions • August (1964): court permitted certain transfers of African American students to previously all Caucasian schools • August (1968): court found that the New Hanover County School System’s method of freedom of choice proved ineffective—the Board was ordered to submit a plan for complete desegregation

9. Eaton Court Case Decisions • July (1970): court required that the Board work with representatives of HEW to develop alternative desegregation plans • June 22, 1971: court directed the Board to implement the plan of desegregation prepared by the Office of Education beginning with the 1971-72 school year

10. Eaton Court Case Decisions • June 23, 1983: court claimed that since 1971 the Board had been operated under at all times as a constitutional unitary system

11. Civil Rights Act (1964) and Education: Key Points • Desegregation shall not mean the assignment of students to public schools in order to overcome racial imbalance • Commissioner of Education had to conduct a survey and report that would address the lack of availability of equal educational opportunities by race, color, religion, or national origin in the public education institutions • No official could issue any order seeking to achieve a racial balance in any school by requiring the transportation of students from one school to another to achieve racial balance

12. Freedom of Choice • Allowed students a choice of school with respect to specifically assigned geographic zones • New Hanover County School Policy 1964-68

13. New Hanover County 1965 Desegregation Plan • Complete Freedom of Choice Plan • Report card of the 1964-65 school year would give the assignment for the following year • Students could either accept or request re-assignment by filling out a form and returning it within twenty days • All staff and personnel meetings would continue to be desegregated

14. New Hanover County 1965 Desegregation Plan • Legal notices would be published in local Wilmington newspapers • Requests for re-assignments were to be fairly considered, without regard to race • Considerations to denial of requests were transportation systems and teacher/pupil ratios • All non-honored requests would be given the second indicated choice

15. Majority to Minority Transfer • Students had a choice of transfer that would allow an African American to move to a predominately Caucasian school and vice versa • New Hanover County School policy 1968-1970

16. New Hanover County 1968 Desegregation Plan • Majority to Minority Assignment • No reason had to be given for desired transfer • No additional transportation would be provided other than already established bus routes

17. New Hanover County 1968 Desegregation Plan • The only all African American high school, Williston, would be closed • High schools would be consolidated into New Hanover High School and John T. Hoggard High School • Gerrymandering of geographic attendance zones for any purposes was illegal

18. Another Important Court Case • Green vs. County School Board of New Kent, Virginia (1968) • Resulted in affirmative action to convert a dual school system into a unitary school system • Required that freedom of choice must be proven as an effective plan of desegregation

19. New Hanover County Desegregation Plan (1971)(written by US Board of Education/HEW) • Establishment of satellite attendance zones for the junior high schools and elementary schools • Plan would allow for the appropriate African American-to-Caucasian ratio of students, faculty, and staff to that of the larger New Hanover County Population • Plan would require 38 more buses

20. Equal Educational Opportunities Act and Policy • Every student in the school system has equal educational opportunities regardless of race, color, creed, gender, national origin, or disability. • New Hanover County School Policy beginning in 1986.

21. The ABCs Accountability Model(North Carolina) • The ABCs is a comprehensive plan to organize public schools in North Carolina around three goals of strong accountability, an emphasis on the basics and high educational standards and on providing schools and school districts with as much local control as possible.

22. North Carolina School Report Cards • Provide information in a number of areas: student performance on tests, teacher qualifications, school safety, school sizes, and many others. • Yearly • Part of the North Carolina ABCs Accountability Model

23. No Child Left Behind (2002) • Focus on greater local school accountability for student achievement and staff quality • Calls for greater parent involvement • Designed to address the fact that not all students are making the academic progress they need to make in order to become successful adults

24. What does closing the achievement gap mean? • New Hanover County is working to close the gap between African American and Caucasian student performance on standardized tests. • As of 2003 a committee decided to focus on four critical areas: climate and culture, diversity across the board, family, and community.