Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Stacie Miller
202-662-8317
smiller@lawyerscommittee.org

July 2, 2008

Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law and UNC
Center For Civil Rights Fight For School Diversity Efforts
In North Carolina
The Pitt County Coalition For Education Black Children and Parents Enter Desegregation Case In North Carolina

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 3, 2008 – Today, in separate filings, four individual parents, and the Pitt County Coalition for Educating Black Children (PCCEBC,) filed court documents asking the Honorable Malcolm J. Howard, federal court judge, to rule in favor of the Pitt County School Board’s (School Board) diversity efforts.  The filings focus on the unequal educational opportunities provided to minority and low-income students when isolated in under-resourced, underfunded and disadvantaged schools.  

Greenville citizens and parents, Randi Conner, Rhonda Everett, Caroline Sutton and Christopher W. Taylor, each of whom have children enrolled in Pitt County schools, along with Reverend Ozie Hall Jr. for the PCCEBC, responded to Judge Howard’s May 8, 2008 order inviting any interested citizen to respond to motions recently filed in federal court by the School Board.  The parents and the PCCEBC are represented by counsel from the UNC Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina School of Law and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

The School Board has asked the Court to find that its 2005 elementary redistricting plan was authorized by desegregation orders that have been in effect since 1970.  This redistricting sought to reduce the segregation of minority students in Greenville elementary schools, particularly Sadie Saulter and South Greenville elementary schools.

The parents in this case have children who attend schools that were affected by the 2005 redistricting.  The PCCEBC has over 500 members, with organizational affiliates including the Pitt County NAACP, Pitt County SCLC, N.C. State Conference of the SCLC, Pitt County Coalition Against Racism, West Greenville Focus Group and the Pitt County Local Organizing Committee. 

Ashley Osment, senior attorney at the UNC Center for Civil Rights, who represents the several Black parents, praised the community for its diligence.  “The community in Pitt County, particularly the Coalition for Educating Black Children and the parents who came forward to participate in this case, are to be commended for standing strong against the idea of leaving some Pitt County schools racially isolated,” said Osment.  “Benefits of integrated schools will only come about where parents and other adults stand up and refuse to accept resegregation.”

In separate affidavits, the parents describe their children’s lack of equal access to the best teachers, top-notch academics, and the social capital that comes with being educated in a diverse environment. 

Rhonda Everett, mother of two, states her strong belief that “isolating minority students, like [her children], by race and class denies them from equal access to high quality teachers, educational programs, resource-rich facilities, demanding curricula and fair discipline policies, amongst other things.” 

In her affidavit, mother Randi Conner speaks of the benefits that she and her husband gained from living abroad:  “We do not value diversity for diversity’s sake.  We value diversity because it has enriched our own life experiences and has enabled us to think more critically and analytically about the world in which we live.  Since we all must work and live together, I believe we should learn together.”

The parents also support the School Board’s revised 2007 Attendance Area Policy.  In his affidavit, Christopher W. Taylor, father of three, writes, “I am aware that after the 2006-07 redistricting prompted white parents to abandon elementary schools in the J.H. Rose Attendance Area, the Board adopted new criteria for drawing school boundaries that includes the pursuit of racial, socioeconomic and academic diversity.  These criteria make a great deal of sense to me ….  I support the Board’s interest in socioeconomic and academic diversity because I have observed how the high concentration of low income students and/or low achieving students in a school deprives children like my own of the benefits of high quality teachers, rigorous curricula, equal funding, resources and facilities, as well as high performing peers whose life experiences bring a wealth of information into the classroom to the benefit all students.” 

John Brittain, Chief Counsel of the Lawyers’ Committee and attorney for these schoolchildren said, “The price of equal educational opportunities for African American students is constant vigilance in the courts.  These parents are willing the pay the civic costs for an education that will prepare their children to compete in a global economy.”

Judge Howard will hear the School Board’s motions on July 9, 2008 at 10 a.m.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law, particularly in the areas of housing, community development, employment, voting, education and environmental justice.  For more information about the LCCRUL, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.

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