CNSNews.com staff writer Monisha Bansal has done something I've seen very little, if any of, in mainstream media coverage. Reporting on yesterday's Supreme Court ruling striking down two race-based preference structures that governed public school districts in Louisville, Ky. and Seattle, Ms. Bansal documented the reaction of the lawyers who won the lawsuits in question.
As NewsBusters has repeatedly noted, most of the media focus has been on the political dimensions of a "rightward" shift in the Court, in Kennedy as the new swing justice, etc.
Below is an excerpt of Bansal's June 29 article, portions in bold are my emphasis:
(CNSNews.com) - Parents hailed as "an important victory" a Supreme Court decision on school racial quotas, saying it was time students were considered as individuals, not "components of a racial class."
The court ruled in a 5-4 decision Thursday that school districts cannot use race as a factor in determining where students will attend school.
It decided two cases -- Parents in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County [Kentucky] Public Schools -- in which white families sued school districts because diversity programs kept their children out of schools in their neighborhood.Story Continues Below Ad ↓
As Cybercast News Service previously reported the schools used race as a determining factor when approving school choice requests, favoring racial diversity in the schools over other factors, including proximity.
The policy in place in Seattle allowed officials to give preference to minority students in an effort to create racial diversity in the classroom. The Kentucky school district had a quota system requiring student bodies to be no less than 15 percent and no more than 50 percent African-American.
"In our view, they should have long ago stopped using race to decide what schools the Seattle schoolchildren get to attend," Harry Korrell, attorney for the Parents Involved in Community Schools, said during a conference call Thursday.
"The court ruled this morning that absent the need to remedy past discrimination, the government cannot make student admission assignments ... based on a student's skin color," he said.
"If you don't have the lingering effects of past discrimination, you need to stop looking at students as components of a racial class and start looking at them as individuals," Korrell added.
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—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
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How many school administrat
June 29, 2007 - 14:57 ET by JDWHow many school administrators or educators are of racial diversity?
Are inner city schools more successful in light of black or Hispanic educators?
What impression does the need for racial quotas leave on students?
JDW
News media: Scoreboard for terrorists
Or the forever-unspoken one
June 29, 2007 - 15:02 ET by sarcasmoOr the forever-unspoken one. How should this system treat Asians, who continually and consistently kick everyone else's ass on various objective tests, and yet are "a minority." The media also doesn't know how to handle this politically-incorrect story, since it would be ideal in a PC world for everyone to score equally instead of proving Charles Murray's "Bell Curve" is real, over & over... :)
JMR
in a PC worldMy son is extr
June 29, 2007 - 15:27 ET by JDWin a PC world
My son is extremely intelligent. He has some Korean friends with whom he spends time on the computer, even those who returned to Korea. They often have games from home which are far more challenging than what is available here. He has been opened to a different culture, they normally live in apartments, fathers are here for a year or two to work in programming for a large company, and they are bilingual. Like my son, they are placed a grade ahead in most subjects. It's interesting to compare these people to the others he hangs with who are simply 'normal'.
JDW
News media: Scoreboard for terrorists
I'll bet. I was and am, lik
June 29, 2007 - 23:31 ET by sarcasmoI'll bet. I was and am, like your son, fortunate enough to be on the "good" side of the intelligence bell curve, but I've often wondered if I'd have such a mature attitude about this very-sore subject if I were among those whose asses are getting kicked instead of safely here in low-stats-land. And make sure your kid learns chess, early. It helps kids' thinking later in life, and is an especially important skill for smart kids.
JMR
The way the news is reported
June 29, 2007 - 15:51 ET by SouthernRootsThe way the news is reported on this story gives me the impression that the absolute Number One responsiblility of the public education market is diversity. Quality education is Number Two.
I would think that a quality education AT ANY AND EVERY SCHOOL in a given school district would be the primary responsibility.
Bussing kids an hour away from their neighborhood does not build community and it lessens parental involvement. Then teachers complain that parents aren't involved.
Why aren't ALL schools magnet schools? Why should a small proportion of students be allowed the "higher quality" education?
Some schools in lower income neighborhoods have discipline problems? Why? Isn't it the responsibility of School and District administration to fix it? If the school needs moe money, shouldn't the school board shift funds?
If we were talking about private schools, I could understand a disparity in, say, elementary schools and the programs and quality of teachers. But in public schools in the same school district? They should all be of equal quality. The primary reason to have to shift students out of their neighbohood should be to balance class loads, and even then, it should only be to the schools nearer to their home neighborhood.
Bring the quailty back into the less economically prosperous neighborhoods, don't export the students. There should not be a drop off in quailty of education for the kids regardless of where their family either chooses, or can afford, to live within the district.
Do not let diversity be an excuse for not holding ALL schools in a district to identical high standards.
What a beautiful day in America...thanks SCOTUS!
June 29, 2007 - 15:54 ET by Guy Arthur ThomasOften, far too often, SCOTUS has had their collective head up their collective @$$ with stupid rulings. Mind you, I am no fan of poli-christ conservatives or "SICKO MOORE" psuedo-intellectual liberal elites but it appears the court has been influenced by extremes of both in the last 20 years (much more to the left of course).
But this time, instead of worrying about the feelings of political tenderlings and social nazis on both sides...it is a beautiful day in America!
Shut up and blog! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal. Go Rudy!
Supreme Court Ruling for School Racial Diversity
June 29, 2007 - 17:58 ET by River CityMy school district is one that will be affected by this ruling. My state has what is called Open Enrollment. My kids can go to any public school in the state in theory. I say in theory because the state government has given my school district an exemption from the law to maintain diversity.
We have about a 20% African-American population in the school and the district wants to maintain the 5 to 1 ratio in the school. To do that white kids can only use open enrollment through a lottery system. When one African American kid leaves they pick 5 white kids from the lottery list and they can leave to go to the school of their choice.
The school district is afraid that they will be left with poor and African-American poor as a majority with a lot less money. When a kid leaves they take the money with them. Siblings are allowed to follow.
I have not seen an article in my local paper with an analysis by the school district attorney as to how they will implement the new rules. I wonder who will push it first. Some parent has to be the first to challenge the school and tell them they won't do the lottery.