An attorney for black students in a long-running Pulaski County school desegregation lawsuit predicted Tuesday that a trial will be necessary to resolve staffing and facility disputes with the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.
Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, told U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. that his clients -- the Joshua intervenors -- are likely to reach an agreement with the Pulaski County Special School District on school staffing requirements.
But that is not the case with the Jacksonville district, he said.
"You have heard us waggling for two years," Walker told the judge, calling any settlement all but "impossible."
Both the Pulaski County Special district and the new Jacksonville district, which was carved out of the Pulaski County Special district, remain under federal court supervision in regard to their compliance with the Pulaski County Special district's 16-year-old desegregation plan, known as Plan 2000.
Staffing practices, student discipline practices and the construction of new campuses comparable to schools in more affluent parts of Pulaski County are among the issues monitored by the court in both school districts.
Allen Roberts, an attorney for the Pulaski County Special district, said Tuesday that he anticipates that he and Walker will agree in writing by mid-April that the Pulaski County Special district is in compliance with school staffing requirements. Otherwise, the district and intervenors will participate in a settlement or mediation conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Kearney on April 19.
The desegregation plan obligates both the Pulaski County Special and Jacksonville districts to develop racially diverse applicant pools for teacher and administrative positions, and that the staffing efforts result in an increase in the number of black teachers in early childhood programs, in the primary grades of kindergarten through three, and in core academic subjects at the middle and high schools.
Additionally, the plan calls for teachers and other professional staff to be assigned to jobs in a way that avoids schools with predominantly one-race staffs.
Walker told Marshall that the Pulaski County Special district has a staff that is about 24 percent black and is working to raise that, while the percentage of black professional staff falls below that in Jacksonville. He argued that the new district shouldn't be allowed to have a lower percentage of black staff than the district from which it was once a part.
Scott Richardson, an attorney for the Jacksonville district, wrote in a report to the judge that five of the eight schools in the system have a professional staff of 19 to 22 percent black and no school has less than a 13 percent black staff. Fifty percent of the district's building principals and assistant principals are black, Richardson said.
He told the judge that the plan itself doesn't specify any numbers or percentages of black staff members.
Marshall set a trial date for Feb. 5 on both staffing and facility issues, but also said he would ask Kearney to schedule a mediation conference between Jacksonville/North Pulaski and the Joshua intervenors for an August date on staffing and facilities.
"Mr. Walker, I hear you that the parties are some distance apart, but you never know what is going to happen when you get in front of a judge," Marshall said. "Judge Kearney is skilled at bringing people together who seem to be completely at odds."
The judge also acknowledged that the parties had been "waggling for a while" on the issues and "if they can't be resolved, we do need to have a trial about them.
"I don't view that as a failure," the judge continued. "Of course, the law smiles on settlements, but there are some issues that parties working hard in good faith cannot settle. That's when the court has to do its job and make a decision."
On facilities, Roberts told the judge that the district is progressing on the building of a new Mills High and Robinson Middle schools, which are to open in August 2018.
He noted that the district is planning to expand Sylvan Hills High School but that hinges on the outcome of a June 13 election on the proposed extension of 14.8 property tax mills for 13 years. The district would use the extended tax levy to finance a $65 million bond issue.
Roberts said he would submit a report to the judge on the Sylvan Hills plan and other construction projects after the special election.
Richardson, the attorney for the Jacksonville district, told the judge that state lawmakers have approved an appropriation that, if funded, is expected to generate state aid to Jacksonville to help pay for the construction of a new Jacksonville High and a replacement school for Arnold Drive and Tolleson elementaries.
The attorneys for the parties didn't delve into the specifics of their disagreements on facilities at Tuesday's brief status conference with the judge.
In December, Walker complained to the judge that the Jacksonville district's plans to replace all eight of its current schools with six new or extensively renovated buildings by 2035 was too long a time period, and it would deny black students the opportunity to attend schools that are equal to newer schools in Maumelle, Cabot and other surrounding communities.
Richardson told the judge in December that the new district has a very extensive building plan now where none existed just a few years ago, and that "a vast majority" of Jacksonville students -- 76 percent of students overall and 80 percent of the district's black students -- would be in new schools or newly renovated schools within seven years.
On Tuesday, Marshall noted that Jacksonville/North Pulaski Superintendent Tony Wood will retire June 30 -- before the next status conference, which is set for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 6.
"The creation of that new district was an astounding feat," Marshall said. "Mr. Wood, you have the court's thanks for leading that."
Metro on 03/15/2017