School board approves student-assignment plan

This from C-J:

Change to begin in fall of 2009

Calling it a historic moment for Jefferson County Public Schools, the district's board voted unanimously yesterday to approve an integration plan that will use race, income and education in assigning children to schools.

"This is a terrific opportunity because we are starting something new and as we move forward and work through this, I believe it is going to be better for our students," said board member Larry Hujo.

Under the new student-assignment plan, all schools -- elementary, middle and high -- must enroll at least 15 percent and no more than 50 percent of their students from neighborhoods that have income and education levels below the school district average, and higher-than-average numbers of minorities.

The plan would begin in elementary schools with the 2009-10 school year, although district officials have said they don't expect every school to immediately meet the goals. The board decided last night to keep in their current schools about 3,400 elementary students who would have had to move. Those students will not be affected by the plan until they move to middle school.

Jefferson County was forced to create a new student-assignment plan after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June that the school district's old plan was unconstitutional. The court said the district looked only at individual students' race when assigning them to schools.

Several board members, along with Superintendent Sheldon Berman, called the creation of a new student-assignment plan a historic moment for both Jefferson County and its school system, one of the largest in the country.

"There have been a number of historic moments … in general, they have gone the other direction, in terms of being forced to integrate," Berman said. "This one is to sustain integration within the context of a very complex decision on the part of the U.S. Supreme Court." ...