Charlotte, NC
Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina with a population of approximately 860,000. The city is growing and it has a very diverse population. However, its’ schools are becoming increasingly segregated at an alarming rate. In March 2018, the N.C. Justice Center’s Education & Law Project reported that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District is the most segregated school district in the entire state of North Carolina. Since its’ peak in desegregation, the number of racially and economically isolated schools have increased immensely within the district. Fueled by the lack of affordable housing, school district boundaries are used to maintain segregated school systems today. The following explores how a once national model for racial integration is now faced with a rapid resurgence of segregated schools created by unequal geographies that has widened the achievement gap within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
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The Fight for Desegregation
A mother explaining to her daughter the significance of the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; photographed on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., November 19, 1954. |
In 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson and ending segregation in public schools. Momentum was slow in the beginning, but this decision ultimately ushered a resistant wave of desegregation across the U.S. Although desegregation in Charlotte only officially started in 1957, only a handful of black students attended integrated schools. However, Charlotte would soon become a national leader for school integration.
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Busing: Surpassing Uneven Geographies of Exclusion
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s proudest achievement of the past 20 years is not the city’s impressive new skyline or its strong, growing economy. Its proudest achievement is its fully integrated schools.”
- Charlotte Observer Editorial Board, 1984
The Turning Point: De Facto Segregation
Change in high poverty, high minority CMS schools between 2001-2002 and 2008-2009. Courtesy of UNC Charlotte.
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Busing was sustainable for many years until the nineties when a strong opposition grew. Almost three decades after the decision to bus, William Cappacchione, a white parent, sued the school district because he believed his daughter was not admitted into their local school because of her race. Though Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools defended their program, the busing program unfortunately came to an end in 2001. In 2002 during its’ wake, the Family Choice Plan was enacted, stating neither race nor ethnicity would be considered in school assignments. Students instead largely attend their neighborhood schools, many of which are racially and economically homogenous.
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“When you look at the aggregate school level performance data in some high poverty racially segregated schools, it can look frightening. Every parent wants the best school for their child, and for parents that have a choice, they are going to choose a school that is high-performing.”
- Amy Hawn Nelson, an educational researcher at UNC Charlotte
What Now?
The report released by the N.C. Justice Center’s Education & Law Project stated that in order for Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district to achieve racial parity across its schools, it would need to reassign 55% of its students. The following video touches on new efforts to achieve greater integration and minimize the effects unequal geographies between Sedgefield and Dillworth Elementary Schools.
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