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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Alabama School District Nears Race Unification

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CN) - Desegregation progress has led the U.S. government and an Alabama school district to come to an agreement about future work.

The Tuesday agreement resolves some of the claims against the Fort Payne City School District initially brought in 1963.

If approved by the court, the proposed settlement would declare the school district partially desegregated in the areas of extracurricular activities, school facilities and transportation.

As such, the case would be dismissed in those areas.

But the order also requires the district "to take additional steps to reach full compliance, including ensuring that its student transfer practices do not impede desegregation and taking measures to promote racial diversity in its faculty and staff," according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

The government would still monitor the district's efforts. Compliance with the terms of the two-year agreement can lead to full dismissal of the case.

Fort Payne's case is part of Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, the 1963 desegregation lawsuit that hammered schools across the state.

In 1968, the Supreme Court identified six factors to determine whether a school district has fulfilled its desegregation duties.

Named for Calvin Green's lawsuit against the School Board of New Kent County in Virginia, the "Green" factors are student assignment, faculty, staff, transportation, extracurricular activities and facilities.

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