General
One of Alabama’s largest school districts has proposed a plan to open new magnet schools, expand transportation and overhaul discipline in an effort to improve options for Black students and teachers in Jefferson County.
After years of negotiations, district lawyers and representatives for plaintiffs in a 60-year-old court case, Stout v. Jefferson County, reached an agreement and filed the proposed consent order, now being reviewed by a federal judge, on Jan. 17.
In a statement to AL.com, Jefferson County Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin said the proposal will “pave the way” for the district to provide expanded opportunities for students.
“This proposed consent order contains a number of important initiatives such as the expansion of our signature academies and the creation of magnet programs,” he said. “It is necessarily a bit complicated as it is a legal filing, but it is designed to make us better as a district while we continue to promote opportunities for all of our students.”
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
The district is one of nearly 40 Alabama school systems that are still under active desegregation orders. 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.
Other districts, including Chambers County, Hoover, Huntsville and Shelby, recently have made efforts to chip away at factors keeping them under court oversight.
Jefferson County’s lawsuit was filed in 1965, more than a decade after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, by Blevins Stout, a Bessemer man who wanted his daughter, Linda, and other Black students to be able to attend all-white schools. In the decades since, courts have monitored whether districts provide equal access and opportunity to Black and white students.
Read more: 60 years after desegregation, local students remember.
A number of smaller, more affluent areas in Jefferson County – like Homewood, Hoover, Homewood, Leeds and Trussville – have split off from the district to form their own school systems. More recently, Gardendale schools attempted to secede from the district, but that effort was struck down by the court in 2018. All districts remain under federal oversight and must file annual reports to the court.
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’s newest desegregation plan comes after years of coordination with civil rights attorneys, officials said. In 2018, Judge U.W. Clemon, who is representing the plaintiffs, 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.
In order to be released from federal oversight, the district must prove to a court that Black and white students have the same opportunities to learn, and that its schools reflect the diversity of the community.
These plans are typically broken up into several categories, or “green factors,” including student assignment, discipline, facilities, access to extracurricular activities and advanced courses and transportation.
More school choice, student transfers
The new order will eliminate some of the current requirements for students to participate in its majority-to-minority transfer program, and will offer more transportation options for families who are transferring to new schools. The program, which was designed to help desegregate schools without rezoning feeder patterns, is based on the demographics of each applicant and their current and choice school.
The district also plans to open at least two new magnet elementary schools by the 2026-27 school year, and will eventually create a new International Baccalaureate facility in Fultondale.
Jefferson County currently operates two magnet programs at Jefferson County IB High and Middle School.
The district will provide transportation to all programs, and enrollment will be decided by a weighted lottery system with priority given to families who live near each school.
A shifting approach to discipline
Officials also plan to expand programs to improve school climate, teach social-emotional skills and reduce exclusionary discipline. The district will hire a “discipline consultant” to oversee new changes.
The district made several changes to its code of conduct this year and plans to review procedures annually. Under the new changes, exclusionary discipline – meaning removing a student from the classroom – will not be used for minor behavior infractions, like skipping school or not following the dress code, and students will only be expelled under severe circumstances. All students will be able to make up work if they are absent due to a discipline issue.
The district also plans to improve instruction and the quality of facilities in alternative schools and place limits on how long students are expected to stay in those programs.
Additionally, school resource officers will have a more defined role in schools. They will be limited to security and law enforcement duties, and will not be expected to interfere with student discipline.
Improving faculty diversity
While Black students make up 51% of the district’s population, just a quarter of local teachers are Black.
Officials plan to create a committee focused on streamlining hiring and recruitment processes and will strengthen partnerships with local historically Black colleges and universities. The district also will create a new faculty transfer program, similar to its majority-to-minority program for students, to aid with staff diversity.
Leaders also plan to expand access to advanced courses and to reassess how students are placed in gifted programs, with a goal to recruit and retain more Black gifted specialists. They also plan to create a teacher education magnet program for high school students, which will be located at Center Point High School.
Next steps
The district held a telephone conference with Alabama’s Northern District Court on Jan. 21 and is awaiting feedback. If approved by a judge, it will submit the plan to the local board of education.
If the board decides to move forward, the district plans to appoint a desegregation coordinator to oversee all desegregation efforts, as well as a Desegregation Action Committee that will be composed of a diverse group of students and parents.
“These are the first of many steps to come over the next few years, and we will keep our community informed as the matter progresses,” Gonsoulin said.
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