April 15, 2006
Law to Segregate Omaha Schools Divides Nebraska
By SAM DILLON, NY TIMES

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OMAHA, April 14 - Ernie Chambers is Nebraska's only African-American state senator, a man who has fought for causes including the abolition of capital punishment and the end of apartheid in South Africa. A magazine writer once described him as the "angriest black man in Nebraska."

He was also a driving force behind a measure passed by the Legislature on Thursday and signed into law by the governor that calls for dividing the Omaha public schools into three racially identifiable districts, one largely black, one white and one mostly Hispanic.

The law, which opponents are calling state-sponsored segregation, has thrown Nebraska into an uproar, prompting fierce debate about the value of integration versus what Mr. Chambers calls a desire by blacks to control a school district in which their children are a majority.

Civil rights scholars call the legislation the most blatant recent effort in the nation to create segregated school systems or, as in Omaha, to resegregate districts that had been integrated by court order. Omaha ran a mandatory busing program from 1976 to 1999.

"These efforts to resegregate schools by race keep popping up in various parts of the country," said Gary Orfield, director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard, adding that such programs skate near or across the line of what is constitutionally permissible. "I hear about something like this every few months, but usually when districts hear the legal realities from civil rights lawyers, they tend to back off their plans."

Nebraska's attorney general, Jon Bruning, said in a letter to a state senator that preliminary scrutiny had led him to believe that the law could violate the federal Constitution's equal protection clause, and that he expected legal challenges.

The debate here began when the Omaha district, which educates most of the state's minority students, moved last June to absorb a string of largely white schools that were within the Omaha city limits but were controlled by suburban or independent districts.

"Multiple school districts in Omaha stratify our community," John J. Mackiel, the Omaha schools superintendent, said last year. "They create inequity, and they compromise the opportunity for a genuine sense of community."

Omaha school authorities and business leaders marketed the expansion under the slogan, "One City, One School District." The plan, the district said, would create a more equitable tax base and foster integration through magnet programs to be set up in largely white schools on Omaha's western edge that would attract minority students.

The district had no plans to renew busing, but some suburban parents feared that it might. The suburban districts rebelled, and the unicameral Legislature drew up a measure to blunt the district's expansion.

The bill contained provisions creating a "learning community" to include 11 school districts in the Omaha area operating with a common tax levy while maintaining current borders. It required districts to work together to promote voluntary integration.

But the legislation changed radically with a two-page amendment by Mr. Chambers that carved the Omaha schools into racially identifiable districts, a move he told his colleagues would allow black educators to control schools in black areas.

Nebraska's 49-member, nonpartisan Legislature approved the measure by a vote of 31 to 16, with Mr. Chambers's support and with the votes of 30 conservative lawmakers from affluent white suburbs and ranching counties with a visceral dislike of the Omaha school bureaucracy. Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican facing a tough primary fight, said he did not consider the measure segregationist and immediately signed it.

Dr. Mackiel, the Omaha superintendent, said the school board was "committed to protecting young people's constitutional rights."

"If that includes litigation, then that certainly is a consideration," Dr. Mackiel said.

Some of Nebraska's richest and most powerful residents have also questioned the legislation, including the billionaire investor Warren Buffett as well as David Sokol, the chief executive of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, which employs thousands in Nebraska and Iowa.

"This is going to make our state a laughingstock, and it's going to increase racial tensions and segregation," Mr. Sokol said in an interview.

The Omaha district has 46,700 students, 44 percent of them white, 32 percent black, 21 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian or Native American. The suburban systems that surround it range in size from the Millard Public School District, with about 20,000 students, 9 percent of whom are members of minorities, to the Bennington district, with 704 students, 4 percent of whom are members of minorities.

Parent reaction is divided. Darold Bauer, a professional fund-raiser who has three children in Millard schools, said he was pleased that the law had eliminated the threat of busing, although he said he was not thrilled about sharing a common tax levy with the Omaha schools.

"What this law does is protect the boundaries of my district," said Mr. Bauer, who is white. "All the districts in the area are now required to work together on an integration plan, and I'm fine with that, because my kids won't be bused."

Brenda J. Council, a prominent black lawyer whose niece and nephew attend Omaha's North High School, said of the law, "I'm adamantly opposed because it'll only institutionalize racial isolation."

Whether the law goes unchallenged is unclear. "We believe the state may face serious risk due to the potential constitutional problems," Attorney General Bruning said in his letter.

But Senator Chambers, a 68-year-old former barber who earned a law degree after his election to the Legislature in 1970, was unmoved. He lists his occupation as "defender of the downtrodden," and suggests that is precisely what he is doing.

"Several years ago I began discussing in my community the possibility of carving our area out of Omaha Public Schools and establishing a district over which we would have control," Mr. Chambers said during the debate on the floor of the Legislature. "My intent is not to have an exclusionary system, but we, meaning black people, whose children make up the vast majority of the student population, would control."

During an interview in his office, Mr. Chambers took time out to answer calls questioning the plan. He told several people bluntly that they were misinformed, but he remained polite.

"You call me anytime, whether you agree with me or not," he signed off one conversation.

He acknowledged that he had nursed a latent fury with the Omaha district since enduring the taunting of schoolmates during classroom readings of "Little Black Sambo" when he attended during the 1940's. He also accused the district of returning to segregated neighborhood schools when it ended busing in 1999, although no high school is more than 48 percent black.

Other black leaders in Omaha criticized the new law.

"This is a disaster," said Ben Gray, a television news producer and co-chairman of the African-American Achievement Council, a group of volunteers who mentor black students. "Throughout our time in America, we've had people who continuously fought for equality, and from Brown vs. Board of Education, we know that separate is not equal. We cannot go back to segregating our schools."

Omaha Schools Split Along Ethnic Lines
Associated Press
Friday, April 14, 2006; A09

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LINCOLN, Neb., April 13 -- In a move decried by some as state-sponsored segregation, the legislature voted Thursday to divide the Omaha school system into three districts -- one mostly black, one predominantly white and one largely Hispanic.

Supporters, including the bill's sponsor and the legislature's lone black senator, said the plan would give minorities control over their own school board and ensure that their children are not shortchanged in favor of white youngsters.

Republican Gov. Dave Heineman signed the measure into law.

State Sen. Pat Bourne of Omaha decried the bill, saying, "We will go down in history as one of the first states in 20 years to set race relations back."

"History will not, and should not, judge us kindly," said state Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha.

Attorney General Jon Bruning sent a letter to one of the measure's opponents saying that the bill could be in violation of the Constitution's equal-protection clause and that lawsuits almost certainly will be filed.

But its backers said that at the very least, its passage will force policymakers to negotiate seriously about the future of Omaha schools.

The breakup would not occur until July 2008.

"There is no intent to create segregation," said state Sen. Ernie Chambers (Omaha), the legislature's only black senator and a longtime critic of the school system.

He argued that the district is already segregated, because it no longer buses students for integration and instead requires them to attend their neighborhood school.

Chambers said the schools attended largely by minorities lack the resources and well-qualified teachers provided others in the district. He said the black students he represents in north Omaha would receive a better education if they had more control over their district.

Coming from Chambers, the argument was persuasive to the rest of the legislature, which voted three times this week in favor of the bill before it won final passage on the last day of the session.

Omaha Public Schools Superintendent John Mackiel said the law is unconstitutional and will not stand. "There simply has never been an anti-city school victory anywhere in this nation," he said. "This law will be no exception."

The 45,000-student Omaha school system is 46 percent white, 31 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian or American Indian.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Omahans react to vote to divide OPS
By CHUCK BROWN / The Associated Press
Thursday, Apr 13, 2006 - 08:15:14 pm CDT

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OMAHA - Some Omaha Public Schools parents say a bill passed by the Legislature Thursday would promote segregation while others say they like the idea of communities having more say in their schools.

The bill (LB1024), which passed Thursday by a vote of 31-16, calls for the creation of a learning community made up of all districts in Douglas and Sarpy counties and for dividing the Omaha district into three smaller ones - one mostly white, one mostly Hispanic and one mostly black.

Parents waiting outside Conestoga Magnet Elementary School Thursday had differing opinions of the bill.

Michael Blake, who is black, said the bill represents regression in race relations.

"It's too much segregation," said Blake, 50. "We should be going forward, not backward."

Vickie Spellman, who is also black, said she believes the bill would reduce diversity in the Omaha district.

"(In) real life, you have to deal with everybody," said Spellman, 45.

Steve Grant, who is white, said he saw both positives and negatives in the bill.

While it appears to create segregation in the schools, Grant said more community say in education is appealing.

"If it gives more control at a local level, I could see where that would be a good thing,"said Grant, 31.

Gov. Dave Heineman signed the bill into law.

The bill' backers hoped its would lead to progress in a school boundary dispute sparked in June when OPS unveiled its 'one city one school' plan That proposal called for the Omaha district to take over 25 suburban schools in the Millard and Ralston districts.

School district leaders also had mixed opinions of the bill.

Omaha school district officials said the bill is unconstitutional and will not stand.

"There simply has never been anti-city school victory anywhere in this nation," OPS superintendent John Mackiel said at a news conference in Omaha. "This law will be no exception."

But Westside Community School Superintendent Ken Bird said he thought the bill was constitutional.

"We don't see that as an issue," he said. "It looks like a shallow argument."

Bird said the bill will require many adjustments.

"This is a new way of doing business," Bird said. "There's a lot in this bill we won't like."

The top priority of the suburban schools was protecting their boundaries, which was done, said Roger Breed, superintendent of Elkhorn Public Schools.

Breed said he hoped the discussion would shift from divisiveness and race and to coming together.

Joining Breed and Bird at a news conference outside the Capitol shortly after passage of the bill were Virginia Moon, superintendent of the Ralston district and Keith Lutz, Millard superintendent.

Comments:

ops teacher wrote on April 14, 2006 10:23 AM:
"Blanket statements are what kept this bill alive. How would "community having more say" in the school district work? Give me an example of how that really, truly affects the childrens' education when, at the same time, they're receiving the message that different races belong in different places. Regardless of whether this bill is enacted, the damage has already been done. And this is coming from someone who teaches is Chambers' neighborhood. This matter by far transcends any district border debate. Now I must go work on my lesson plans since the legislature thinks I'm less qualified than a teacher out west."

Bret wrote on April 14, 2006 8:23 AM:
"Someone needs to call for the immediate recall of the OPS board and begin the process of getting John Mackiel fired from super. The board has proven now they are not capable of handling their responsibilities like businesmen and women. How can this be started? Who does one talk to about this? "

mattie wrote on April 14, 2006 7:34 AM:
"With all that is happening right now, for example, immigration laws and boycotting,I think this is the last thing we need. Instead of making some kind of progress, we are looking at ourselves in the old days again. Segregation. What will the students think? What will it look like being seperated? I think that the best thing is to keep it as it was and enjoy the diversity."

April 12, 2006
On Education
A District Coming to Terms With the American Swirl
By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN, NY TIMES

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GREENWICH, Conn. -Valentina Pereda was sitting in the cafeteria of Greenwich High School here on the Friday morning of Feb. 3, counting down the last minutes of a study period she didn't need, complaining to her friends from English class that she wished something exciting would happen. Just then, she caught sight of several security guards dashing past her chair. "Oh, my God," she heard someone crying out. "Oh, my God."

The guards were chasing two boys who had been arguing over rights to a particular table and who decided to head outside for some physical resolution. While the subject of their dispute was almost boringly ordinary, the demographics made it more volatile than a typical teenage beef. One boy was white, the other Hispanic, and they were part of a high school growing diverse in ways that defy the horsy-set image of Greenwich.

Indeed, the fight that day did not just disrupt Valentina's complacency. It also became a marker in how one suburb can respond to both the opportunities and challenges of increased integration and immigration.

Even as Greenwich remains one of the wealthiest communities of its size (61,000) in the country, with a median household income of nearly $100,000, and even if it has such a concentration of money and privilege that a burglary ring once used the Social Register to select its victims, the public schools have grown racially, ethnically and economically varied.

Stereotypes aside, Greenwich High School now stands at 22 percent nonwhite, with students from 54 foreign countries as far-flung as Turkey, South Africa and Nepal. (The nonwhite figure in superficially comparable school districts like Wilton and New Canaan is roughly 5 percent.) Greenwich High's largest influx has come from Central and South America.

The number of Hispanic students in the school this year, 392, has more than doubled from 188 in 1993.

Many of those families live in the working-class district of Byram that a century ago was home to Greenwich's earlier version of diversity - Italians, Slovaks, Poles - or in the public housing projects that initially housed many African-Americans. Like all of those groups, the Hispanics have been drawn here by ample work in service to the affluent as cooks, maids, landscapers and construction workers.

Valentina Pereda, 18, embodies the powerful forces of transformation.

Born in New York to a Venezuelan mother, she divided her childhood between Brooklyn and Venezuela, with a brief stay during elementary school with an aunt in Greenwich.

She returned here in the fall of 2004, sharing an apartment with her mother and aunt, who both worked as hairdressers to support the household, as well as two younger cousins. In the intervening months, they have moved seven times, driven out by rising rents, filthy conditions or exploitative landlords.

Amid all the personal upheaval, she has thrived in the high school. She represented Greenwich at American Legion Girls State last summer and has won a scholarship to Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.

Yet as the president of a Hispanic student group, the Vision Club, she also knows well the Latino classmates who ride bikes to school instead of BMW's, who hold after-school jobs as stock boys or baby sitters, who will not be able to openly or affordably attend college because as illegal immigrants they cannot be officially employed or receive in-state tuition.

All of which has given Valentina a sharp appreciation of the dizzying demographic range in the high school, the range that in certain ways was made manifest in the February incident.

"I like to think everything happens for a reason," Valentina said in an interview last week. "The school is great, but there is a level of ignorance, from both whites and Latinos. There was a hidden tension. You can tell how radically different the lifestyles are. You'll hear a white kid say to a Latino kid, 'Hey, when's your father coming over to mow the lawn?' And the hard part is, it's true. It's a true statement. But nobody wants to admit it. So maybe this has been a wake-up call for diversity."

Certainly, the school has been stirred into action. At the most basic level, the students involved in the fight were suspended, and the existing force of security guards has been augmented by a plainclothes police officer specializing in youth issues.

Because the officer must be armed, under police regulations, a controversy has arisen in Greenwich over his placement in the school.

But that issue is really separate from the larger one of how a vanilla suburb, to use the funk musician George Clinton's famous phrase, adapts to being part of the American swirl.

"This was a teachable moment,"' said Alan Capasso, the headmaster, as the principal is formally known. "We needed to build on the teachable moment."

IN the aftermath of the fight, when wild rumors were flying of Hispanic gangs planning drive-by shootings in retaliation, Mr. Capasso sent student volunteers like Valentina into homerooms to conduct wide-ranging discussions on the reasons for the racial friction and the ways to solve it.

One result is that the school now is festooned with signs listing what to "start doing" (respecting one another, being open to differences) and what to "stop doing" (name-calling, rumors, blowing events out of proportion).

An existing program that teaches students about damage caused by stereotyping, which has been required only of freshmen, will be extended next year to those in all grades.

The fight has also added some immediacy to Greenwich's earlier efforts to close the racial gap in academic achievement.

While the high school has met the federal requirements under the No Child Left Behind law in all categories - including breakdowns by race and for students in special education and bilingual classes - Hispanic students were less likely than those from any other racial group to even take the SAT. Their average score on the college admission test lags about 150 points behind the district average of 1130.

Mr. Capasso acknowledged that to close that gap, Hispanic students needed to be recruited in greater numbers for honors and advanced-placement classes.

Of the effect of the efforts so far, Valentina said: "It's not like everyone's being friends and merging. The school's still cliquish. But the comments have vanished and people are minding their own business. And I guess that's better."

E-mail: sgfreedman@nytimes.com