2023 APPROPRIATIONS BILL SHOWS SOME PROGRESS FOR SCHOOL INTEGRATION

NCSD STAFF UPDATES

What We've Been Up to Recently

NCSD 2022 SUMMER INTERN COMPLETES SENIOR THESIS ON SCHOOL INTEGRATION

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Congratulations to Emma Knight (Yale '22.5) for recently completing her senior thesis on school integration in Fairfield County, CT.

Entitled "Segregation on the Sound: Healing Racial Injustice in Fairfield County through Real School Integration," Emma examines the history of school segregation and possibilities for coalition building in the region. Great work, Emma!

SUPPORT NCSD IN YOUR END-OF-YEAR GIVING

Looking to make a last donation in 2022? Individual giving provides a significant boost to NCSD's capacity.

On Giving Tuesday, NCSD launched a fundraising campaign for a new website. Founded in 2009, NCSD’s website has not been upgraded in a decade! It’s time for the main hub of the school integration movement to move into the 21st century.

Individual giving also helps support our advocacy work, including our lobbying efforts. Your contributions are critical to our coalition's success, as this part of our work requires access to nonrestricted funds.

We've raised $1,500 so far...let's get to $2,500 today!

Thank you, as always, for your support!

NCSD MEMBER UPDATES

National -

• Barbara Johns: The US' forgotten civil rights hero (BBC, December 12) - "The US Capitol building in Washington DC will soon install a statue of Johns to represent her home state of Virginia. She will replace Robert E Lee, the Civil War commander of the Confederacy. More than 70 years after the teenager moved a nation to end school segregation, her statue will replace Civil War Confederate commander Robert E Lee's inside the US Capitol."

• Opinion: Segregated K-12 Schools are a Threat to Democracy (City Limits, December 5) - "For those who believe integration should no longer be a priority, or those who follow the misguided belief that integration serves no purpose at all, one thing is true—shrugging our shoulders or directly opposing the goal of educational diversity is a threat to our country’s democracy."

California -

• Family that paved way for desegregation of U.S. schools honored with park in Westminster (KABC, December 4) - "Before there was Brown v. Board of Education, there was Mendez v. Westminster. The federal case involving an Orange County family helped pave the way for desegregation of schools in California and the United States. Seventy five years later, the family behind the legal battle was honored with a park. That belated 'thank you' is coming in the form of the Mendez Tribute Monument Park in Westminster."

• The Surprising Story of the Berkeley Attorneys Who Helped Desegregate the South (California Magazine, December 1) - "It is also the story of how four Berkeley-trained lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice helped overturn the racial caste system that consigned Black students to inferior schools."

Colorado -

• Pat Pascoe's book tells the story of school integration in Denver (Denver Post, December 20) - "Former state senator Pat Pascoe's new book tells the story of desegregation and Keyes v. Denver Public Schools."
• Members take note: The 50th anniversary of the Keyes case is approaching in 2023.

Georgia -

• Atlanta Public School Under Federal Investigation on Accusations of Segregating Black Students into Different Classrooms (Ebony, December 5) - "The Atlanta Public School System is being investigated by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights after allegations that a principal was separating students by race."

Illinois -

• Parent backlash delayed school desegregation plans in Champaign. What are the options now? (Illinois Newsroom, December 13) - "After parent backlash, the Champaign Unit 4 school board has a new option for further desegregating schools – keeping student placements mostly the same."

Massachusetts -

• Gateway Cities look to the corner office for leadership on school integration (MassINC, December 19) - "By bringing together students from different backgrounds, students in DLI schools likely get the many benefits associated with learning in integrated environments, including reductions in racial bias and improvements in critical thinking, leadership skills, and civic engagement."



• Half a century since the lawsuit that shook the city: Reexamining Boston school desegregation (Tufts Daily, December 8) - "The lack of a substantive, concerted effort by municipal leaders to make the desegregation effective along with the poor quality of Boston’s public schools led to an interrelated array of educational problems and racial tension."

New York -

• New survey highlights NYC Asian voices that favor school integration (Gothamist, December 5) - "Asian New Yorkers are more interested in racially diverse schools than is widely understood, according to a new survey from the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF)."

North Carolina -

• School segregation continues to be an urgent issue in NC schools (Richmond County Daily Journal, December 21) - "The latest report from the Education & Law Project at the North Carolina Justice Center provides an update on school segregation trends and new policy recommendations to foster integration in North Carolina’s public schools."

• Five steps Gov. Cooper can take to ensure the Leandro ruling benefits students for years to come (NC Policy Watch, December 9) - "The Leandro ruling offers a rare opportunity to secure a long overdue increase in school resources. It’s imperative that policymakers don’t let this opportunity slip through their fingers. But if the governor makes use of his power, he can ensure that this historic ruling benefits students for years to come."

Texas -

• Feds open civil rights investigation into Texas school district after book removals (Longview News-Journal, December 21) - "The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into Granbury ISD, a North Texas district where officials removed books... [including “Separate Is Never Equal,” the story of a family’s fight against school segregation."

Virginia -

• Loudoun Supervisors Launch School Segregation Impact Study, Reconciliation Work (Loudoun Now, December 12) - "County supervisors on Tuesday, Dec. 6 voted to launch a two-year project to study the impacts today of Loudoun’s long history of school segregation and consider options for reconciliation."

Check out our field-wide calendar, which is evolving given the COVID-19 crisis.

Please let us know of upcoming events, by emailing newsletter@school-diversity.org.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund * Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund  American Civil Liberties Union * Poverty & Race Research Action Council * Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law * Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund * Magnet Schools of America * One Nation Indivisible * Southern Poverty Law Center * Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School * Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA * Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University * University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights * Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University * The Othering & Belonging Institute * Education Rights Center, Howard University School of Law * Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota Law School * Education Law Center * New York Appleseed * Sheff Movement Coalition * Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation * ERASE Racism * Chicago Lawyers' Committee * Empire Justice Center * IntegrateNYC * Intercultural Development Research Association * Reimagining Integration: The Diverse and Equitable Schools Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education * Institute for Social Progress at Wayne County Community College District * Center on Law in Metropolitan Equity at Rutgers Law School * Equity Assistance Center (Region II) at Touro College * IntegratedSchools.org * The Office of Transformation and Innovation at the Dallas Independent School District * Live Baltimore * Maryland Equity Project * Center for Education and Civil Rights * National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector * The Center for Diversity and Equality in Education at Rutgers University * Being Black at School * UnifiEd * The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy * Public Advocacy for Kids * The Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools * The School Desegregation Notebook * Fair Housing Justice Center, Inc. * Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO) * Learn Together, Live Together * Beloved Community * Chicago United for Equity * Learning Policy Center * Public School Forum of North Carolina * The Bell * North Carolina Justice Center * The Bridges Collaborative at The Century Foundation * South Side Early Learning * Oneonta For Equality * NestQuest * Metis Associates