Education Law

"The processes and procedures for student elections are under review."

MSNBC reported today that the Nettleson School District in Mississippi recently sent around a memo to its middle school students regarding their opportunity to run for class office.  This memo listed each office available in each grade, and then further specified the racial requirements for each office!!!  Even more astonishing than the actual policy of class office segregation by race (if it is possible to be more astonishing) is the school district's tepid, bureaucratic response to the revelation that it continues to practice Jim Crow education by explicit edict.  The title of this post is the meat of the district's response, but I encourage readers to read the whole thing here. 

Unless this is some elaborate hoax, then we have serious problems in this part of Mississippi.  In my education law classes, I routinely remind my students that, just because the Supreme Court has held that a particular action is unconstitutional, one should not expect that the action is never performed in any school district in the country.  But when I say this, I am generally referring to school-directed prayer, NOT de jure racial segregation.  Truly depressing. 

Full post as published by Edjurist on August 27, 2010 (boomark / email).