We are slowly dividing into haves and have-nots, the majority and the minority. But white parents who sued in 1997 and 1998 challenging the Swann ruling argued that forced busing and race-based student placement violated their constitutional guarantee of equal protection. Atlanta lawyer Lee Parks will argue on their behalf today in Richmond. That means separate and unequal schools. Whether that would happen in Charlotte has been the subject of fierce debate among school board members and among thousands of parents and students in public meetings and over the Internet.
Race is the easiest to grab on to.
Black parents are concerned that an end to busing and other federal supervision of the schools will result in fewer resources being funneled to inner-city schools. The reassignment plan adopted last week will send students to schools close to their homes, but also will offer them options to choose other schools, such as magnet programs. Dispute over the new reassignment plan focuses largely on two conditions that signal mistrust of the school board by white suburban parents, Lassiter said. By a 6-3 vote, the board approved the plan after Griffin insisted that the International Baccalaureate programs for the most advanced students at North Mecklenburg and Independence high schools be moved to West Charlotte and East Mecklenburg, closer to the inner city. Lassiter said he believes that move was intended by Griffin as retribution for the all-black Charlotte schools that were closed after desegregation in the early 1970s.