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Judge blasts Chicago schools in desegregation case
May 14, 2004
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter
A federal judge scolded Chicago school officials Thursday for blowing deadlines in an interim desegregation deal and gave them two weeks to produce documents.
"The idea that this is the same old-same old and there's no sense of urgency is misguided,'' U.S. District Court Chief Judge Charles P. Kocoras said, acting on a motion by federal attorneys.
The school system was supposed to produce about 50 new policies and data disclosures, some by April 1, in a deal carved out with the U.S. Justice Department and accepted by Kocoras in March. It f
llowed the judge's contentions that the 1980 desegregation consent decree was "passe'' in a system where the white student population had dropped from 19 percent in 1980 to 9 percent white
tod
y.
The tardy reports are on such issues as minority transfer
s; impact of open enrollment on desegregation; progress in meeting faculty diversity and quality goals; new attendance boundary policies; and school-by-school spending of desegregation funds, according to government attorneys.
Kocoras has proposed lifting the decree by the end of the 2005-2006 school year, but that can't happen unless the deadlines are met, he said.
Kocoras also ordered school attorneys to post their documents on the Web, so the public will have access to them.
That change came after Harvey Grossman of the American Civil Liberties Union said the ACLU had not yet received any documents, despite being listed as an interested party in the case and filing a Freedom of Information Act request for
them.
However, Kocoras refused a Justice Department request that Chicago also file its documents with the court.
"I will read them when there's an issue about them, but I never p
lanned to h
ave day-to-day oversight,'' Kocoras said. "If you're getting shortchanged on any infor
mation, come see me. I don't intend for any of this to be a mystery to people.''
The judge brushed aside board contentions that "draft documents'' from the school system were enough. That would be an unconventional notion of a deadline, he said.
Judge blasts Chicago schools in desegregation case
May 14, 2004
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter
A federal judge scolded Chicago school officials Thursday for blowing deadlines in an interim desegregation deal and gave them two weeks to produce documents.
"The idea that this is the same old-same old and there's no sense of urgency is misguided,'' U.S. District Court Chief Judge Charles P. Kocoras said, acting on a motion by federal attorneys.
The school system was supposed to produce about 50 new policies and data disclosures, some by April 1, in a deal carved out with the U.S. Justice Department and accepted by Kocoras in March. It f
llowed the judge's contentions that the 1980 desegregation consent decree was "passe'' in a system where the white student population had dropped from 19 percent in 1980 to 9 percent white
tod
y.
The tardy reports are on such issues as minority transfer
s; impact of open enrollment on desegregation; progress in meeting faculty diversity and quality goals; new attendance boundary policies; and school-by-school spending of desegregation funds, according to government attorneys.
Kocoras has proposed lifting the decree by the end of the 2005-2006 school year, but that can't happen unless the deadlines are met, he said.
Kocoras also ordered school attorneys to post their documents on the Web, so the public will have access to them.
That change came after Harvey Grossman of the American Civil Liberties Union said the ACLU had not yet received any documents, despite being listed as an interested party in the case and filing a Freedom of Information Act request for
them.
However, Kocoras refused a Justice Department request that Chicago also file its documents with the court.
"I will read them when there's an issue about them, but I never p
lanned to h
ave day-to-day oversight,'' Kocoras said. "If you're getting shortchanged on any infor
mation, come see me. I don't intend for any of this to be a mystery to people.''
The judge brushed aside board contentions that "draft documents'' from the school system were enough. That would be an unconventional notion of a deadline, he said.