Attorneys for black students in a long-running Pulaski County school desegregation lawsuit said Friday that the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District's recent request to be released from federal court supervision is "at a minimum ... premature."
Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, Robert Pressman of Lexington, Mass., and Austin Porter Jr. of Little Rock represent the black students known as the Joshua intervenors in the 34-year-old lawsuit. The Pulaski County Special and Jacksonville districts are the remaining parties in the lawsuit and, as such, are monitored for their progress toward meeting school desegregation goals.
Scott Richardson, an attorney for the Jacksonville district that is only in its second year of independent operation, last month asked U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. to declare the 4,000-student system unitary or in compliance with its desegregation obligations in regard to staffing and school facilities and to release the district from further court supervision in those areas.
"Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District's motion to secure declarations of unitary status and court release regarding ... facility and staffing obligations lacks merit," attorneys for the Joshua intervenors responded to the judge. "The district's argument does not incorporate and apply the well-established standards for resolving the unitary status issues raised."
The Joshua attorneys also said that the district will have the burden of proof, "as it attempts to establish the rosy compliance picture claimed.
"JNPSD's submissions do not establish adequate compliance in either area," they continued. "The district will be unable to demonstrate Plan 2000 compliance for the period required by governing precedent," they wrote, referencing the Pulaski County Special district's desegregation plan, the provisions from which are binding on both the Pulaski County Special and the Jacksonville/North Pulaski systems.
Marshall, the presiding judge in the case, has scheduled a Feb. 5 trial to determine whether the Jacksonville district has met its staffing and building obligations and is entitled to be released from court supervision in those areas.
Even if released from court monitoring on staffing and buildings, the Jacksonville district would remain under court supervision in regard to student disciplinary practices and student achievement.
As to the Jacksonville district's efforts to improve its school buildings, the Joshua legal team on Friday argued to the judge that the district is in the early stages of its construction program and "remains in the planning stage for the majority of its schools.
"Under governing law, implementation and its duration are insufficient to justify the requested ruling of unitary status," the Joshua attorneys said.
The district has committed to equalizing the condition of its aging schools to much newer schools -- such as Maumelle Middle and High schools and Chenal Elementary -- that are in more affluent and predominantly white communities in the Pulaski County Special district.
To that end, the Jacksonville district is constructing a new elementary school to replace Arnold Drive and Tolleson elementaries that will open in August and a new high school campus that is to replace the existing Jacksonville High by August 2019.
Multi-purpose rooms are being added at the district's other elementary schools for the time being, but those schools will also be rebuilt over the next several years. In recent weeks district leaders have also initiated planning to replace Jacksonville Middle School, which is housed in the former North Pulaski High School building.
The Joshua attorneys specifically objected Friday to the district's plan to postpone replacement of the district's Murrell Taylor Elementary, which has a black student enrollment of 70 percent, until 2035-36.
The attorneys broached the possibility of Jacksonville acquiring building funds from the Pulaski County Special School District -- from which Jacksonville detached last year. That's an idea first suggested by the Joshua attorneys at a status conference with the judge in early September.
The idea is "rooted in the discriminatory past and the fact that taxation in PCSSD produces much more revenue than in JNPSD due to a large disparity in property wealth," the attorneys said, estimating that 1 mill of property tax in the Pulaski County Special system raises five times that raised by 1 mill of tax in the Jacksonville system.
One mill generates $2.6 million in revenue in the Pulaski County Special district, which has a total 40.7 mill tax rate, officials said Friday. One mill raises $386,000 in the Jacksonville district, which has a total school tax rate of 48.3 mills.
Richardson, the attorney for Jacksonville, said Friday that the Joshua intervenors' main concern about the facilities plan is that the construction is not happening fast enough and more money is needed.
"I don't see the district going back to the voters for an increase in millage," Richardson said. "The voters were very generous the last time and I think they have given us what they can."
He also said that when the district's facilities plan is complete, the district will have a full complement of new buildings that will be competitive with any district in the state. He also said it is to the district's advantage to stagger the construction of new campuses so that all the campuses won't later wear out and need replacing at the same time.
The desegregation plan, Plan 2000, obligates the Jacksonville district to recruit applicants for administrative and teaching positions in ways that create diverse pools of applicants from which to select employees. The desegregation plan also calls for ongoing programs, policies and procedures that result in an increase in the number of black teachers in early childhood education programs, primary elementary grades and core academic subjects in secondary schools.
The Pulaski County Special district earlier this year reached an agreement with the Joshua intervenors that the district was entitled to be released from court supervision on staffing.
Richardson argued in part to the judge in the motion for unitary status on staffing that the Pulaski County Special district's release on staffing should also apply to the Jacksonville district.
The Joshua attorneys argued Friday that the numbers and percentages of black teachers in the Jacksonville district have declined since the formation of the Jacksonville system, with hiring of staff going from 61 of 257 (23.7 percent black) in 2015-16 to 39 of 257 (15.2 percent) in 2016-17.
Richardson said the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier in the lawsuit that the case is about compliance with the desegregation plan and not results.
"If that's the standard, then their point about the change in percentage shouldn't be a very strong point," he said.
Metro on 10/07/2017