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Home My WebLink About2015 11-06 Lawsuit claims Minnesota fails to educate poor minority students in Minneapolis, St. Paul STAR TRIBUNE 11/6/2015 Lawsuit:Schools failing poor,minorities in Mpls.,St.Paut-StarTribune.com MINNEAPOLIS Lawsuit claims Minnesota fails to educate poor, minority students in Minneapolis, St. Paul Attorneys are asking for a metro-wide integration plan,including new school district boundaries. By Anthony Lonetree(http://www.startribune.com/anthony-lonetree/10645316/)and Alejandra Matos(http://www.startribune.com/alejandra-matos/169409976/)Star Tribune NOVEMBER 6,2015—9:33AM Civil rights attorneys suing the state of Minnesota for failing to educate poor and minority children called Thursday for a metro-wide integration plan and other remedies to address increasingly segegated schools. But redrawing boundaries—one of the lawsuiYs proposed solutions—is a"nonstarter," according to one state legislative leader. Attorneys Daniel Shulman and his son John Shulman,filed the lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court on behalf of seven families and one community group,accusing the state of approving policies that have created schools with disproportionate numbers of poor and minority children.Students in those schools vastly underperform academically compared to children in integrated schools,the complaint states. Twenty years ago,the Minneapolis NAACP sued the state on sirnilar grounds,prompting a setUement that produced the"choice is yours"program that allows low-income students from Minneapolis to enroll in suburban districts. I ` - i_t_"�,�: "We are going to ensure that the'I�vin Cities become a national leader in educating � ' children in the'I�vin Cities,and not as we are today,an absolute failure nationally— pj `� � `� �=� J $ , f � �t . ;��f t with one of the largest so-called learning gaps in the country,"John Shulman said at a � '$ �� - news conference Thursday.Shulman and his father also represented the NAACP in the '� � � � older case. � Myron Orfield,a University of Minnesota law professor,said the"choice is yours" -L agreement showed that a legal remedy was possible.But,he added:"These are hard � �� ' things.The more segregated you get,the harder it is to do something about it." �http:listmedla-startribune.com/Images/1446753181 08+Zgg459 ,.�+��. A recent Star Tribune analysis showed elementary students in Minneapolis and St.Paul `' � attend schools that are more racially segregated than they have been in a generation. -� �; More than half the elementary schools in the two districts now have 80 percent or more �� ""� �� . minority students.In Minneapolis,a district that was fully integrated in the 1980s,two � y �� schools have student populations that are almost entirely white and 19 schools are more than 80 percent minority. � � , � � The two districts were not named as defendants in the lawsuit because,under law,the � � '"' • r��, S� state bears the responsibility to provide an adequate education,Shulman said. °'1��F� "r� " Minneapolis,the lawsuit alleges,put in place boundary changes that have further (http://stmedia.s[artribune.com/unages/1446753361_C seg-egated schools,and it accuses the district of not spending integration money appropriately.But D'u-k Tedmon,the districYs spokesman,declined to comment Plaintiff Shyntoria Johnson and her daughter Thursday,saying:"The lawsuit is against the state." Yunique,l,gathered with others outside the St.Paul is in the third year of a Strong Schools,Strong Communities restructuring that Hennepin County Government Center during... put renewed emphasis on neighborhood schools as the heart of the community.St. PauPs NAACP chapter since has claimed that the district is becoming more segregated. But the St.Paul district also declined to comment Thursday,noting that it,too,is not a defendant in the case. Gov.Mark Dayton's office deferred to state Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius, who said Thursday that she had not seen the complaint,and as such could not speak to its specifics. State Sen.Chuck Wiger,DFL-Maplewood,chairman of the Senate Education Cominittee, said the state has worked to close the achievement gap by providing integration aid and increasing its investments in early education.Asked if a settlement were possible along the lines of a"choice is yours"expansion,Wiger said:"We have a system of open enrollment where choice is available." http://www.startri bune.com/I awsuit-clai m s-m i nnesota-fai Is-to-educate-poor-m i nority-students-i n-m pls-st-paul/340843751/ ��2 11/6/2015 Lawsuit:Schools failing poor,minorities in Mpls.,St.Paul-StarTribune.com As for redoing district boundaries,he said there was"no legislative appetite"for a proposal along those lines. New attention In Minnesota,Orfield said,desegregation efforts were hampered by a 1998 opuuon ' '�F} �- "� _ �,,°- �, saying the state,"absent proof of intentional discrimu�ation,did not have a compelling — "- s.r ` governmental interest in integrating its K-12 schools." , _ �=.�=' / Aleac Cruz,one of the plaintiffs,lives in St.Paul's Frogtown neighborhood.He said he 6 � �`" � p � drives his lads seven minutes each day to a bus stop that feeds to Groveland Park � '"�' �, '��r` �� A' Elementary in the city's Macalester-Groveland area because he wants his chIIdren to = study alongside kids whose families are more likely to include college graduates. ��-y tl C` °I want my children to have the same opportunities to succeed in life,"said Cruz,adding �,,,,'��„'� he hoped the lawsuit would"make it easier,make it better,for all kids." (http://stmedia.startribune.com/irnages/1446240602_� In St.Paul and Minneapolis,the lawsuit alleges,the districts have drawn school Kindergarten teacher Katina Edwards reads attendance boundaries that place a large number of minority and poor children in •'Two Little Bears"to her students at St.Paul's certain schools,while other schools in the districts have large concentrations of mostly Eastern Heights Elementary School.In the city,... white and wealthy children. The complaint also alleges racial and socioeconomic segregation at charter schools and some suburban schools,too. According to the complaint,as more fanulies of color have moved to the suburbs, particularly inner-ring suburbs,the state has permitted the drawing of boundaries that "deliberately increased segregation."Hopkins,Bloomington,Bumsville,Osseo and North St.Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale were among the examples. The lawsuit alleges some suburban districts,including Minnetonka,draw more affluent white students from nearby districts by advertising when neighboring districts are undergoing boundary adjustments that might increase diversity in schools. Charter schools also have"promoted and exacerbated segregation,"the lawsuit said,by marketing themselves to parents as providers of a"racially-oriented education, appropriate only to a particular racial group"or by attracting white students in districts with shifting demographics. Of the metro area's elementary-level char[er schools,58 percent have predominantly minority students and 19 percent have predominantly white students.Nearly all of the predominantly minority charter schools have high levels of poveriy,as well,according to a Star Tribune analysis of data from the Minnesota Department of Education. In Minneapolis and St.Paul,open enrollment to suburban or charter schools has resulted in the two districts becoming isolated with poor and minority students,the complaint states. A spokesman for Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said that she had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment. St.Paul Mayor Chris Coleman had not been briefed on the case,spokeswoman Tonya Tennessen said.But,she added,the mayor is"deeply concerned"about disparities in academic achievement between white students and children of color,and that addressing the disparities"remains a key focus of his administration." Staff writer Mary Jo Webster contributed to this report. alonetree@startribune.com 651-298-1545 alejandra.matos@startribune.com 612-673-4028 amatosl2 http://www.startri bune.com/lawsuit-clai m s-m i nnesota-fai Is-to-educate-poor-m i noriiy-students-i n-m pls-st-paul/340843751/ 2/2