Owen v. City of Independence, MO Brief Amici Curiae

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From: Dennis Parker 

Subject: Proposed Settlement in Minneapolis/St. Paul Desegregation Case 

Date: 3/28/00 

Pages: 4, including this cover sheet. 

Original: Will Will Not X Follow this transmission   

Message: From this Sunday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune about the proposed settlement. 

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From: Dennis Parker 1-212-965-2255 

Subject: Minneapolis/St. Paul Proposed Settlement 

Date: March 28, 2000 Time: 4.31 PM 

Pages: 4, including this cover sheet. 

Original: Will WillNot X Follow this transmission 

Message: Attached is an article about the proposed settlement in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I'm not sure if 

they've heard about our success in Sheff or whether Govenor Ventura has threatened them but the proposal 

seems very disappointing - it calls for, in addition to the five hundred transfers, an institution of a system of 

school report cards. Although there are some magnet schools, I don't think the settlement requires the 

creation of any additional ones. ALI in all, it seems very much a one-way plan with very modest 

expectaitions. 

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"Other school deseg efforts much larger than Minnesota's 

  

http://www startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisSlug=NAAC26 

  

      
         

     
   

Worichs Largest Supergoiieny       

  

  

   

   
shariribune, com 

Sa Meine 

elated item 
At a glance: the 
  

settlement 

1 of 4 

  

Published Sunday, March 26, 2000 

Other school deseg efforts much larger than 

Minnesota's 

Norman Draper / Star Tribune 

Thousands of poor minority students ride buses from the nation's cities 
to suburban schools in the hopes of getting a better education. The 
Minneapolis plan unveiled earlier this week is smaller than the majority 

of them. 

The 2,000 Minneapolis kids, at most, who would be affected come 
nowhere near the 12,300 in St. Louis and the 4,900 in Milwaukee. But 

a closer look at those cities indicates that their desegregation plans are 

looking more like relics of the past than trends for the future. 

Student busing plans are losing ground to a rising interest in 
neighborhood schools, and to a growing sense that urban schools need 
to be fixed to do the job for kids where they live. 

The tentative settlement to the NAACP lawsuit in Minneapolis sounds 

a lot like what some other big school districts have done in response 

to lawsuits. Low-income Minneapolis students would be sent out to 
the suburban districts, each of which would have to set aside a certain 
number of places for them. Together, the eight suburban districts are 

supposed to take in 500 Minneapolis students a year over the course 
of four years. 

Those districts are Robbinsdale, Columbia Heights, St. Anthony/New 
Brighton, St. Louis Park, Richfield, Edina, Hopkins and Wayzata. The 

transfers would be voluntary. 

That settlement won preliminary approval Thursday from the West 
Metro Education Program (WMEP), a consortium of nine suburban 

districts and Minneapolis formed to promote the voluntary 
desegregation of schools. The national NAACP still must approve the 

deal. 

One WMERP district -- Brooklyn Center -- will not have to participate 
in the settlement because it already has high concentrations of poverty. 

The Twin Cities approach to desegregation is multifaceted. Magnet 

3/28/00 4:03 PM



   
"Other school deseg efforts much larger than Minnesota's http://www.startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisSlug=NAAC26 

schools have been built in both the east and west metro area to attract 
students from both urban and suburban districts. An example of this is 
the Interdistrict Downtown School in Minneapolis, which is in its 

second year. 

At the same time, and seemingly at odds with the desegregation 

efforts, is the increased emphasis in Minneapolis on having students 

attend neighborhood schools. 

Such urban school districts as St. Louis, Milwaukee and Boston have 
been sending their minority kids out to suburban schools for years. As 

with the Minnesota proposal, student participation is voluntary. 

In St. Louis, the 12,300 students -- about one-quarter of the city's 
black student population -- depart every school day for suburban St. 

Louis County schools. Under the arrangement, 1,250 white suburban 

St. Louis students attend magnet schools in St. Louis. 

In Milwaukee, central city minority students have been heading out to 
the suburbs under a voluntary desegregation plan since 1976. 

Participation broadened in the early 1980s after Milwaukee schools 

filed suit against nonparticipating suburban districts. Milwaukee 
minority students who participate in the program now go to school in 
23 suburban districts, and 500 suburban students go the other way to 
attend Milwaukee schools, said Aquine Jackson, Milwaukee schools 

director of the division of student services. 

Does it work? 

Experts remain divided over whether such methods actually work. 

And both Milwaukee and St. Louis are scaling back their 
desegregation efforts in favor of improving the schools within the 

cities themselves. Still, proponents of such initiatives say students who 
leave urban schools for the suburbs show better high school 
graduation and college admission rates. 

Students who transferred from St. Louis to suburban districts boasted 
a 49 percent four-year graduation rate from high school, 22 
percentage points higher than the kids who stayed behind, according 
to Sharon Heisel, spokeswoman for the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice 
Corporation, a consortium of school districts involved in the St. Louis 
program. Plus, said Heisel, 77 percent of those minority students who 
transferred to suburban schools and graduated from high school went 
on to two-or four-year colleges. That compares to 47 percent for the 

state of Missouri. 

And even though there are concerns that not enough poor 
Minneapolis students want to go to the suburbs to fill the 500-student 
annual quota, interest has not been a problem in St. Louis. Heisel said 

2 of 4 3/28/00 4:03 PM 

 



    

30f4 

Other schpol deseg efforts much larger than Minnesota's http://www startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article ?thisSlug=NAAC26 

about 6,000 St. Louis kids apply annually for 3,500 new suburban 

school slots. 

In Connecticut, a court order forced the expansion of a program that 
allowed urban minority students in Hartford to transfer to suburban 
districts. Now, New Haven and Bridgeport are participating, as well 
as 60 suburban school districts. This year, 1,350 urban kids -- most of 

them from Hartford -- are going out to suburban schools, said 
Connecticut Department of Education spokesman Tom Murphy. 

That's double last year's total. About 70 white suburban students are 

coming in to the cities. 

Fix for just a few 

Others caution that pulling a few students out of failing urban schools 
does nothing to improve the quality of those schools, where the 
majority of students are staying put. They also warn of the culture 

shock that can occur when a student shifts suddenly from a poor 

school community to an affluent one. 

"It's no panacea," said John F. Jennings, director of the Center on 
Education Policy in Washington, D.C. "The fundamental solution has 

to focus on improving the schools that aren't performing, not just 
allowing some kids to escape those schools." 

Jennings said there are other reasons why such efforts are misguided. 

"Generally, the kids don't want to leave their neighborhoods, and it's 

difficult for a kid from the inner city to go to a very affluent area," he 
said. "The cultural norms are very different. Now, they're dealing with 

kids who have computers in their homes and go to Disneyland for 
Thanksgiving." 

Jennings said such efforts as those in Milwaukee, St. Louis, and now 

in Minneapolis, represent a continuing concern for the plight of 
students at the same time that court-ordered desegregation is being 
dismantled. Few places in the country remain with mandatory busing 
for racial balance. 

"We're in an area where courts are dissolving desegregation orders," 

he said. "But we're also in an era where people are concerned that kids 
in the inner cities are not getting the best education." 

Both St. Louis and Milwaukee are drawing back from their ambitious 
voluntary desegregation plans in favor of doing things closer to home. 

In Milwaukee, the school district has been granted $170 million in 
bonding authority by the state to improve and expand the schools in 
Milwaukee. And Milwaukee schools officials would like to see fewer 
of their students heading out of the district. 

3/28/00 4:03 PM 

 



-Other school deseg efforts much larger than Minnesota's http://www startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisSlug=NAAC26 

"We would like to see those numbers decrease because we would like 
to say we have high-quality school programs in Milwaukee," Jackson 
said. 

In St. Louis, a 1999 wrinkle in the ongoing settlement of the 

desegregation lawsuit allows suburban districts to drop out of the 
program after four more years. It remains to be seen how many 

districts will opt out, said Susan Uchitelle, who was appointed by the 

court to implement the St. Louis-area desegregation effort between 
1981 and 1999. Plus, the state has allotted $180 million over the next 

11 years for St. Louis to fix its own schools, and the sentiment for 

neighborhood schools is growing. 

Uchitelle sees the beginning of a shift in priorities, especially as the 
concept of neighborhood schools becomes more popular. 

elated item "I would say diversity and desegregation are no longer the main 
At a glance: the targets," she said. "Now, it's [school] quality. " 
settlement 
  

-- Staff writer Norman Draper can be contacted at 

ndraper@startribune.com. 
  tariribune, com 

Cad ietio 
© Copyright 2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. 

3/28/00 4:03 PM  



¥% JOB STATUS REPORT *x* AS OF MAR 28 2000 5:06 PM PAGE. 01 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE 

wack INCOMPLETE DESTINATION(S) HIGHLIGHTED BELOW s#%% 

JOB #420 

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3/28 4:35P 2267592 UR——3 56". 006 OK 

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4:53P NY LAWYERS PUB. INT HE-—-3 £ 40% 006 

4:56P 860 541.5050 EC——5 206” 006 
4.857P 860 3527 3305 {26 005 

<4 4314276 = JC 

5 860 728 0287 
3 18605705256 

  

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC 

99 Hudson Street 

Suite 1600 
New York, NY 10013-2897 

(212) 965-2200 

  
  
  

  FAX 
Company: Fax #: 

  
  

Deborah Archer NAACP Legal Defense Fund 212/226-7592 

Sandra Del Valle Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund 212/431-4276 

Derek Douglas NAACP Legal Defense Fund 212/226-7592 

Chris Hanson American Civil Liberties Union 212/549-2651 

Wesley Horton Horton, Shields & Cormer, P.C 860/728-0401 

Marianne Engelman Lado NY Lawyers for the Public Interest 212/244-4570 

Wilfred Rodriquez Greater Hartford Legal Assistance 860/541-5050 

Elizabeth Horton Sheff Community Renewal Team 860/527-3305 

Martha Stone Center for Children Advocacy 860/570-5256 

Philip Tegeler Connecticut Civil Liberties Union 860/728-0287 

From: Dennis Parker 

Subject: Proposed Settlement in Minneapolis/St. Paul Desegregation Case 

Date: 3/28/00 

Pages: 4, including this cover sheet. 

Original: Will WillNot X Follow this transmission 

Message: From this Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune about the proposed settlement. 

Confidentiality Note: The information transmitted in this facsimile message is intended to be confidential and for the user of 
only the individual or entity named above. If the recipient is a client, this message may also be for the purpose of rendering 

legal advice and thereby privileged. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that 
any retention, distribution or copy of this telecopy is strictly prohibited. if you receive this facsimile in error, please 
immediately notify us by telephone and return the original message to use at the address above via the mail service (we will 

reimburse postage). Thank you.  



¥%x JOB STATUS REPORT xx AS OF MAR 29 2000 10:55 AM PAGE. 01 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE 

  

JOB #428 

DATE TIME TO/FROM MODE MIN/SEC PGS STATUS 
001 3729 10:52A 4314276 EC--5 00" 53”: 005 OK 
002 10:53A 860 570 5256: EC——S 01:39” 005 OK 

  

TIF NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC 

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(212) 965-2200 

  

  

    

  

  

    

  

C OVER F AX 

8S HEET 

To: Company: Fax #: 

Deborah Archer NAACP Legal Defense Fund 212/226-7592 

Sandra DelValle Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund 212/431-4276 

Derek Douglas NAACP Legal Defense Fund 212/226-7592 

Chris Hanson American Civil Liberties Union 212/549-2651 

Wesley Horton Horton, Shields & Cormer, P.C 860/728-0401 

Marianne Engelman Lado ~~ NY Lawyers for the Public Interest 212/244-4570 

Wilfred Rodriquez Greater Hartford Legal Assistance 860/541-5050 

Elizabeth Horton Sheff Community Renewal Team 860/527-3303 

Martha Stone Center for Children Advocacy 860/570-5256 

Philip Tegeler Connecticut Civil Liberties Union 860/728-0287 

From: Dennis Parker 

Subject: Proposed Settlement in Minneapolis/St. Paul Desegregation Case 

Date: 3/28/00 

Pages: 4, including this cover sheet. 

Original: Will Will Not _ X Follow this transmission 
  

Message: From this Sunday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune about the proposed settlement. 

Confidentiality Note: The information transmitted in this facsimile message is intended to be confidential and for the user of 

only the individual or entity named above. If the recipient is a client, this message may also be for the purpose of rendering 

legal advice and thereby privileged, If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that 
any retention, distribution or copy of this telecopy is strictly prohibited. If you receive this facsimile in error, please 

immediately notify us by telephone and return the original message to use at the address above via the mail service (we will 

reimburse postage). Thank you.