Consent decree over for Champaign schools

CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign school district's consent decree is officially over, and now it will be up to the district and the community to ensure Champaign's black students receive an equitable education, without any oversight by the court.

Federal district court Judge Joe Billy McDade entered an order Wednesday afternoon approving the settlement agreement between the district and the plaintiffs – the district's black students – that ends the consent decree.

It is a beginning, as well as a successful ending, Superintendent Arthur Culver said in an e-mail to district staff.

"Together, we have implemented systems and procedures to ensure equity and excellence for African-American students and for all students," he wrote. "As we move forward, we will use the lessons that we have learned to ensure continuous improvement. The best is yet to come in terms of achievement for our students."

"We've been moving along, even without the judge's order," said school board President Dave Tomlinson, noting the board will name the members of a new equity committee at its meeting Monday night. "We will be continuing to make strides like we planned all along."

In his opinion, McDade wrote that the settlement agreement is the "best method of continuing the progress made in the Champaign schools that was started by the consent decree. This court further is convinced that the agreement places the future of Champaign schoolchildren in the hands of persons best equipped to educate: the administrators, teachers and staff of the Champaign schools, the community they serve and the parents that are part of that community."

There is no reason the community and the school district cannot develop and maintain a positive partnership, said Carol Ashley, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, as long as they put students' interests first.

"The district has to be open and receptive to community input, and the community has to continue to provide the input," Ashley said. "Whether that's going to be a successful relationship depends on whether each party plays their role. The only way to judge that is to see what happens in the next year or two years."

McDade noted there was not significant opposition to the settlement, but he did address concerns of some community members about whether the district will follow through on its commitment to equity for all students without court oversight. He said the lawsuit against the district offered no guarantees, and he noted the stated commitment by Culver and Tomlinson for the programs and practices the district has put in place under the consent decree.

McDade said citizens must invest their time and involvement to monitor and keep the school district on course.

"Dependency on the court to do that is obviously convenient but not necessarily as effective and should be the last resort of an involved citizen," he wrote.

"There are certainly those who have their doubts that we will be able to count on the district to continue these educational equity efforts with the same vigor it did under the court-monitoring arrangement," said Imani Bazzell, a parent and community activist who has long been involved with equity issues in the district.

She said she and other community members will continue to work for educational equity, and find new leaders on the issue, including school district employees.

"We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes," Bazell said, adding the education of children is not solely the responsibility of parents or of the school district. "We have to hold ourselves and each other accountable."

McDade said the district has come a long way since the consent decree began in 2002, and the skepticism of some in the community "is based on long memories of past transgressions rather than the past seven years of transformative progress toward a race-neutral educational environment that is mostly likely to continue after the consent decree ends."

He also said the settlement agreement "represents a significant bargain for plaintiffs."

The plaintiffs had sought to extend the consent decree in three areas – student assignment, special education and alternative education.

McDade noted the district has secured the money to add more seats in north Champaign, making much of plaintiffs' concerns in the area of student assignment moot. He said that while black students are still overrepresented in special-education classes, the numbers alone don't mean the district has acted in bad faith in special-education placements. And, McDade said, the district has committed to continuing its alternative high school program for at least two more years.

He said the settlement addresses the concerns of plaintiffs in these three areas and provides them with a continued commitment by the district – something they might not have achieved had they gone to trial.

 

Consent decree and settlement

Facts about the Champaign school district's consent decree and settlement:

The consent decree

The consent decree was put in place in early 2002. Its aim was to eliminate unwarranted disparities between black and white students in achievement, discipline, attendance, assignment to special education and participation in gifted and honors classes, among other things.

The consent decree was to expire at the end of June 2009, but the plaintiffs sought to extend it in three areas – special education, alternative education and additional elementary seats in north Champaign. The settlement agreement covers those areas.

The settlement agreement

The settlement agreement was reached by the school district and the plaintiffs in late July. Federal district court Judge Joe Billy McDade held a fairness hearing in September, in which he heard comments from members of the community on the proposed settlement and on their views of how the district has done with respect to the goals of the consent decree.

The settlement agreement requires the district to:

n Implement a policy regarding the opening and closing of any schools that states the district will consider the effect on black students, and all other students, including the transportation burden on those students. The district also agreed to have a third-party analysis of those issues.

n Pass a resolution reaffirming its commitment to adding elementary classrooms at Washington and Garden Hills elementary schools.

n Establish an "Education Equity Excellence" committee, to be composed of district staff and a diverse group of community members. The committee will review equity issues in a number of areas.

n Adopt a policy stating that special-education referrals, identification and programs shall be operated in an educationally sound and nondiscriminatory manner, and that the district will monitor those things.

n Pass a resolution stating a commitment to continue operating the Academic Academy – an alternative program for high school students who are struggling in a traditional high school setting – for at least two more years.

n Provide support for and monitor students who are returning to their home schools from placement in an alternative program.

JODI HECKEL

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