Metro’s School Board adamantly defended its rezoning plan last night. During a routine update on student assignment at Tuesday night’s school board meeting, members called a federal lawsuit against rezoning meritless.
The lawsuit claims rezoning re-segregates city schools. The district argues rezoning has provided racial balance.
A report to the board showed the number of schools that no longer have a majority black or white population has increased 9% in the last year. Still, a few schools have seen a significant change in racial makeup – Westmeade Elementary near Belle Meade went from 46% black students last year to about 24% this year.
The rezoning plan promised extra resources to the inner city Pearl-Cohn cluster. The district says that’s happened and points to smaller class sizes and extra counselors.
Board Chair David Fox read a statement saying rezoning’s only intent is to improve school choice.
“Many children affected by the new plan chose a school closer to home. Others chose to continue attending school in a different part of town. Those decisions, however, were left to the students and their families.”
John Early Middle School, and its lack of textbooks, is at the heart of the federal lawsuit. District officials say there are other schools waiting for books due to late orders and, in John Early’s case, a distributor running out of them.
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