Posted on 08/13/2003 3:20:46 PM PDT by chance33_98
School District Released From Desegregation Case
Ruling Frees District From Court Supervision
POSTED: 11:26 a.m. CDT August 13, 2003 UPDATED: 4:58 p.m. CDT August 13, 2003
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple released the Kansas City, Mo., School District from the 26-year-old desegregation case Wednesday.
The ruling means the school district is free from court supervision.
In issuing his decision, Whipple said that the district "is unlikely to discriminate against African-American children again." He said his decision would "allow the superintendent to make routine decisions" without seeking court approval.
Whipple previously released the district from federal court control in the areas of racial balance, facilities, budgeting and transportation.
He dismissed the case in 1999, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned him -- calling for another hearing.
The case, filed in 1977, cost taxpayers more than $2 billion.
The achievement gap between black and white students in the district was the last portion of the desegregation plan the court was monitoring. Whipple last year ended federal oversight in the areas of racial balance, facilities, budget and transportation.
Arthur Benson, the attorney for the plaintiff schoolchildren in the case, said he would decide whether to appeal Whipple's decision after reading the written ruling.
"Of course I disagree, because I believe it's premature," Benson said of the ruling.
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Isn't this the school district that was ordered by a rogue federal judge to raise taxes in order to build a state of the art school to attract whites from suburbs to the inner city?
As I recall, the entire, expensive, unconstitutional effort failed miserably.
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