Nearly 60 years ago, the Adams family filed a lawsuit alleging the district violated the federal precedent set by Brown V. Board of Education. Since then, the district was required to report to the court statistics about how it treats students, hiring practices, and proposals to change school zones. That oversight has now ended after a judge ruled the district had reached an acceptable degree of compliance with federal law.
The Rankin County NAACP hosted a public meeting with representatives from the Legal Defense Fund in August to explain what the decision could mean for the district moving forward.
Attorney Katrina Feldkamp described the court’s decision and said, “Black students are still disciplined under some measures twice as often as white students for the same types of offenses. But the court said that this was acceptable because perfection is not the standard.”
Feldcamp said other factors were also deemed by the court found to fall within that same margin of compliance. “We see that white teachers who are less qualified are frequently hired over more qualified black candidates,” said Feldcamp. “The court said that this did not disqualify the district from unitary status because some of those black teachers were later hired for other positions.”
A major concern residents is whether the Rankin County School District will redraw its school zones in ways that would consolidate minority communities. Feldkemp noted that many districts that come out from desegregation orders will redraw zones within months.
Angela English, president of the Rankin County chapter of the NAACP, said she believes conversations about rezoning the district are already happening behind closed doors. “Just because the court order has been lifted does not mean we’re going to let them get away with anything. They are still under our watchful eye, and we will be more scrutinizing than ever,” said English.
A separate desegregation order against the Pearl Public School District remains in effect.
