Federal attorneys to examine discrimination claim in District 7

A team of attorneys from the U.S. Department of Education will visit Spartanburg School District 7 today in response to a complaint alleging racial discrimination.

The Spartanburg branch of the NAACP wrote to the federal Office of Civil Rights in late April, protesting the school district's newly redrawn attendance lines.

The group also is asking for an examination of District 7's single-member districts. The NAACP claims that election plan assures that a majority of the school board members are white, even though District 7's population is predominantly black.

The board's composition was not a factor in the unanimous vote last September to close one elementary school, Z.L. Madden, and redraw attendance lines. The new plan placed children in schools closer to their homes and stopped the busing program begun in the 1970s as a means of desegregating schools.

Some parents were concerned that the plan is racially segregating schools again, said Ruby Rice, president of the Spartanburg branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"We hope we can get some closure and get some answers," Rice said.

Attendance lines were redrawn in February, and most children are now enrolled in their neighborhood schools.

The Office of Civil Rights enforces federal orders that prohibit discrimination in educational programs. OCR's goal is to resolve complaints within 180 days.

David Thomas, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said that today's meeting likely won't include interviews. Attorneys will gather information requested from the district and will determine what type of investigation they'll pursue, Thomas said.

"They'll review our documentation, get an explanation and rationale for the changes we made last year in terms of rezoning,"

said District 7 Superintendent Walter Tobin.

According to a letter sent to U.S. Department of Education officials, NAACP leaders' points of concern included:

• Redrawing attendance lines will take many low-income black children out of more academically successful schools and send them to lower-performing schools.

• A "disproportionate number of poor and minority students were denied equal access to receiving special permission to attend other academically successful schools." Wealthy children, in contrast, were allowed "special permission to attend schools outside of their neighborhood."

(bullet) "The newly reconstituted schools (Mary H. Wright Elementary and Cleveland Elementary School) lack the quality of instructional staff and curriculum of other district schools (Pine Street Elementary and Jesse Boyd Elementary)."

(bullet) District 7 nullified the OCR's Agreement of 1970 regarding desegregation and the lines were redrawn without reporting this action to the OCR for review and approval.

(bullet) During the past five years, "a consistent pattern of passing over (and many times, failing to interview) qualified minority applications for administrative and instructional positions has been reported" to Rice's office.

(bullet) Equity of school funding between non-Title I schools and Title I schools is in question. "It is (our) belief … that Title I funding is being used to supplant services that the School District should be providing."

(bullet) The current single-member district lines prevent "the possibility of the election of a majority of School Board Trustees from the minority community, even though District 7 is predominantly minority, (black)."

"We're concerned that there are five white board members saturated in one area of the district," Rice said, "and the board can never get anything passed for the betterment of our children."

The OCR asked District 7 to compile student demographic and enrollment figures, old and new attendance line maps, copies of all proposed students assignments, copies of board meeting minutes from as far back as July 2003, and a list of elementary schools that met yearly No Child Left Behind targets.

Tobin said that his staff has more than 90 percent of the information gathered.

In regard to the NAACP's allegation that certain schools are getting disproportionate financial resources, Tobin said, "Some of the schools with the greatest needs have additional resources to level the playing field."

Title I schools receive federal dollars for having a high population of students living in poverty.

Regarding "lower-performing schools" versus "higher-performing" schools, Tobin said that all District 7 schools are working toward the highest academic achievement levels possible for all students.

"What I know about the leadership at those schools and about the teaching staff is that every child has the possibility and opportunity to get a quality education in this school district," Tobin said.

District 7 has more black principals than any other district in Spartanburg County. Five of the district's 12 principals are black. Tobin said the district also has a sizeable number of assistant principals who are black.

Rice said this area merits review.

"We've heard lots of complaints that qualified blacks are not being put in administrative positions and are not being hired at all," she said.

Since school began on Aug. 10, hundreds of children have shifted to new elementary schools, and district administrators said they've received few complaints from parents about the neighborhood schools concept.

Tobin joined District 7 as interim superintendent last month; all attendance line changes were approved under the tenure of his predecessor Lynn Batten.

Tobin said that it appears that the district acted within the limits of original desegregation orders and did not violate any federal laws or agreements.

"The info that I have reviewed, and in dialogue with staff, it appears that we have pretty much followed the guidelines and regulations we think we had to adhere to," Tobin said.

Ashlei N. Stevens can be reached at 562-7425 or ashlei.stevens@shj.com.