Sweeping changes to school discipline, magnet offerings and school transfers are coming soon to Jefferson County schools, thanks to a recent court ruling that lets the school district address longstanding inequities.

The move comes after years of work to examine how Black students and staff could be better served by the district. If the district can follow through on its promises, it will give the local board more authority to make decisions about facilities, zoning and other issues.

In January, the district put forth a plan to end a 60-year-old court order, Stout vs. Jefferson County, by outlining a number of measures to improve opportunities for Black students. It was approved by U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala on March 3.

“We are grateful that the court approved the consent decree,” Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin said in a statement to AL.com. “However I want to stress that this is just the beginning of our work.”

The proposal, called a “consent order,” aims to address several areas, from gifted programs to extracurriculars to faculty diversity. The work will likely take the district several years to complete, Gonsoulin said.

Among the key changes:

• More transportation options and expanded eligibility for majority-to-minority transfers
• The district will open two new magnet elementary schools by 2026
• Schools will limit the use of exclusionary discipline and school resource officers
• Improvements to alternative schools
• A new transfer process for teachers
• Changes to the gifted program to help combat under-identification of Black students

In a news release, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund called the order a “monumental victory” for students and families.

“I am overjoyed that Judge Haikala has approved a final Consent Decree which will bring about the complete desegregation of the Jefferson County school system,” said retired federal Judge U.W. Clemon, who is representing the plaintiffs alongside the Legal Defense Fund.

Clemon graduated from the school district and started working on the case as a law student in 1966 before taking over as lead attorney. He eventually went on to become the state’s first Black federal judge, and in recent years he returned to the courtroom to work on desegregation efforts.

In 2018, Clemon held a number of meetings with community members, who said they were concerned about student discipline, the conditions of schools and the diversity of local teachers.

Nearly three quarters of Jefferson County’s 55 schools do not fall within the district’s own standards of racial diversity, according to an AL.com analysis of state data.

Jefferson County is one of at least 40 school systems in the state that are still under decades-old desegregation orders. Other districts, including Chambers County, Hoover, Huntsville and Shelby, recently have made efforts to chip away at factors keeping them under court oversight. Just a decade ago, Jefferson County and the city of Gardendale fought a dramatic battle for control of local schools that ultimately went to a federal appeals court.

“Working hand in hand with the superintendent and legal counsel for the Jefferson County school system, we have finally agreed on a plan which will bring about the complete and meaningful desegregation of the school system over the next few years,” Clemon added. “I thank God for the privilege of representing the Black plaintiffs in this case and I pray that the provisions of the consent decree will immensely benefit all the students enrolled in Jefferson County schools.”