WTF, Attorney's are draggin' this on to get paid by YOU!!

"Upon the entry of an order by the court " declaring that west bank magnet schools offer substantially equal educational opportunities as magnet schools situated on the east side of the Mississippi River, no student domiciled on the west bank of the river shall be permitted to enroll in an east bank magnet school and no student domiciled on the east bank of the river shall be permitted to enroll in a west bank magnet school..." Judge Engelhardt

"Upon the entry of an order by the court..." Can this be any clearer!!

Question: Will my student be denied access NOW to a magnet on the opposite side of the river from his residency?

"According to our attorneys, all new qualified East Bank magnet applicants receive 1st priority (to Eastbank schools). Westbank students will only be considered after all available spaces have been filled by qualified Eastbank students." Rosalind Mathes

"the document speaks for itself" Charles Patin

So this is what the "document" says, Patin!!

"The Court made it abundantly clear that the January 29th Order did not declare the magnet schools to be unitary, but was a step towards the eventual declaration of such status. In fact,

the Court requested, and the parties agreed to, the deletion of language in the original West Bank Magnet Plan that confined magnet students to the side of the river upon which they reside, see Rec. Doc. 190,

and noted that deletion at the fairness hearing. The Court has consistently noted that it did not favor any proposal to “close the river,” and repeated that fact at the hearing. Finally, in response to a question from a parent, the Court explicitly declared from the bench that a student need not live on the West Bank to attend a West Bank magnet school, and vice verse." Judge Engelhardt

"Despite assertions to the contrary made by attorneys last week, the Jefferson Parish public school system cannot use the Mississippi River as a dividing line when assigning students to its magnet schools, according to an order released last week by the federal judge overseeing the district's desegregation lawsuit." Jenny Hurwitz, TP

At this point Federal Government oversight is the most sensible thing to maintain. This school board is not ready to handle the responsibilities of a desegregated system!!

You've Got to be Kidding me!!!

According to recent events the School Board has rescinded the component of the consent order requiring guardian and parental residency on the same side of the river as the attending Magnet school. Instead they are choosing to add a residency restriction when reviewing applications from Jefferson Parish residents that live on the opposite bank from the school. This, in my opinion is the SAME THING. Does the parish want to have Magnet schools or do they want great schools in every district that attract great teachers with parents and students that want to learn? They are doing a wonderful job building out the parish with new high achieving schools. Don’t let them soil their efforts by casting arbitrary residency restrictions that serve no purpose. Westbank children will go to westbank Magnet schools if they have the choice and the schools are GOOD. Same for eastbank. Applying this residency restriction is simply "fudging" their bet that they will serve these “separate but equal” schools described as being ”substantially equal” on both sides of the river once declared unitary.

We have always view the division of the parish by the river as segregation. This new tactic is simply an example of the stubbornness of authority worn too long by the same people and of the institutional racism that permeates much of our society. If overt denial is not possible then covert denial is the last resort. This is the constant fear of Black people and the disenfranchised. I am sadden for this turn of events but am please to see it come to light right now rather than 2.5 to 3 years from now when the school board’s “authority network” has the final say in decisions. We may get to change the make-up of the board over time but history bears out those chances as nil.

History also bears the fact that people's drive and enthusiasm wane and the weight of the mass will have to be born by just a few. Mrs. Elder is doing a remarkable job keeping abreast of the Boards activities, informing parents and maintaining a home as she sinks her teeth deeper into the school board's shenanigans. She like myself will do what is best for our children after all of this is over but I hope the example she has set in staying the course will not be lost on parents after us. I’m afraid however that history also bears witness to this as well.

Let's Be Heard!!!

I've created a Poll that I would like for you to participate in. The issues surrounding the JPSS consent order has taken a turn for the worst. Attorney's are not cooperating with the Judges rulings (believe it or not) so we would like to bring this to a conclusion. Here is a snippet of the Judges orders:

..."Any party or representative of a party who makes representations of assertions contrary to that which is set forth herein, or contrary to the record in these proceedings, or contrary to the transcripts of the fairness hearing of January 29th, 2009, will CEASE and DESIST from such representation."...

The complete actual order may be downloaded here.


The goal is to get the public schools on the road to unitary status, place the school board in a position to make decisions to support our school system and at the same time maintain the integrity of the parish on both the East and West sides of the Mississippi River.

Please click "Participate" then indicate your preference in the table that will appear. You may remain anonymous or you may give your name. Keep your eyes on this site for updates and actions if you are not already on Mrs. Edler's email list...

Never mind, the fervor is over. Thank you Jenny!

Just for my record!

These are the words that I had for Judge Engelhardt and the court at the Fairness Hearing on Thursday January 29th. It seems that the battle is still ensuing given the order released by the court after the attorneys (represented by Charles Patin) have (and I will be kind) "mis-stated" to the public the orders by the court concerning the separation of the parish by the river:

Having been involved in this process from the beginning I am very impressed with the progress the school board and their attorneys have made to address the concerns in the lawsuit and the those of parents in an effort to secure unitary status. We all have learned a lot about the school board, the school districts, curriculum and each other.

This process however is not about us, it’s about our children and the equitable utilization of our tax dollars to encourage and provide the best educational opportunities for them. We have also learned that in some respects education is a business and like a business it needs to be financially sound, legally compliant and consumer friendly. And so like a business limiting the consumer base is not expedient. Segregation served to legally allow isolation, restriction, denial of service and stigmatization that is still felt in many communities today. Freedom of choice is an inalienable right that we all share. It is the most outstanding attraction to becoming an American citizen. No one can come to this republic and be denied opportunity because of who they are or where they come from as long as they remain compliant to the laws of this land.

I submitted to your honor in a letter the things I wanted to say regarding the bridge closure and parish wide access. I simply wanted to remind the court that all or our freedoms are inexplicably linked and efforts to limit the freedoms of one group will ultimately encroach upon the freedoms of another.

Let’s continued the good work that was started over a year ago and that is nearly completed today. Better schools, better teachers, better administrators and staff, better parents, better guardians, better children for better communities for everyone.

"...the ugly specter of racial inequality... I like that!

Mrs. Nicole Edler addressed Judge Engelhardt with this excellent and compelling treatise on the need to really care about the attorney's efforts to divide the parish. I was there, you would have been proud:




Good Morning,Your Honor:

I applaud this court in its attempt to put an end to the ugly specter of racial inequality and segregation in our schools. However, racial demographic documentation presented to this court has shown that the Jefferson Parish School Board and the plaintiffs have crafted a plan that will in fact lead to resegregation and further isolationism of black and white students in Jefferson Parish. As Dr. Roussel affirmed to this court on Dec. 14th, 75% of minority students in Jefferson Parish reside on the west bank. Only 25% of African American students reside on the east bank. “Assigning” students to a magnet school on the side of the river of their residence will advance segregation and geographical discrimination of the west bank and the students that reside there. This suggests an attempt by the litigants in this case to reinstitute a dual system, a system which this court has attempted to abolish for over 40 years.

The supportive documentation confirms that the east bank’s court-approved ratio of black to white students (+/- 15%) is significantly lower than the black/white percentage range declared acceptable by this court for the west bank. The disparity is evidenced by the differences in the housing patterns on the west bank, which is more racially diverse, less affluent and more African-American.

However, as they proclaimed in 1971, the Jefferson Parish School Board once again contends that the disparity in the races and the separation of the parish by the river is an inevitable “product of voluntary housing patterns”, a justification which was not accepted by the court in 1972 as an excuse to promote racism, and one which should not be accepted today by this court. The school board seeks permission by this court to “assign” students to magnet schools where the student population on one side of the river may be disproportionately of one race, while ignoring the racial implications and consequences therein. This flies in the face of desegregation, and circumvents the intent of this court and our constitution.

Swann v. Mecklenburg placed the burden on school authorities to show that one race schools are "genuinely nondiscriminatory." Closing the river to crossing magnet students will, in fact, risk the eventual return of “one-race” magnet schools. Allowing students to access magnet schools on both sides of the river encourages racial, socio-economic, religious, and cultural diversity in our magnet schools. In 1971, the district court found that the only evidence presented by the School Board to justify the presence of 19 one race schools "was an allusion to housing patterns." Today, the school board would have this court separate the parish by the river and thus “assign” students to a magnet school based on their geographical residency. What the school board fails to publically acknowledge is that, in conceding that most African-American students reside on the west bank, and would therefore be “assigned” to west bank magnet schools, they are, in fact, intentionally or not, promoting segregation, while attempting to use the Mississippi River as a dividing rod. Forty years later, it still smacks of racism. Just because it may not be spelled out clearly or outwardly spoken, it does not mean that the intent is lost on the public. Our constitution does not allow us to turn a blind eye to racism, be it overt or subtle. It does not allow us to claim ignorance of its existence.

Your Honor: Magnet schools promote natural desegregation, which is the justified and noble objective of this court. Please do not allow the Jefferson Parish School Board to “assign” students to our magnet schools, thereby limiting and/or suppressing desegregation. Please do not allow them to separate our school system by the Mississippi River, which will most certainly attempt to circumvent the honorable intent of the 14th Amendment to our constitution. The magnet school plan, in its current form, is patently unfair.

Brown v. Board of Education stated that: “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”. The courts did not agree that educational facilities should be “substantially equal to the extent feasible”, as the school board has suggested. We are one parish. It is time that we started behaving like one. It is time to end the dual system.

Thank you.

So let's play the game...AGAIN!

I was under the impression that the objective of the Jefferson Parish attorneys and school board officials was to have Jefferson Parish Public School system to become unitary. A year ago they were willing to sacrifice a few students by removing them from their present magnet school to attend "God knows what" school just not the school on the opposite side of their residence. Today Judge Engelhardt declared to the attorneys that their efforts working with the school board and parents may have paid off and the public schools in Jefferson will come under School Board control very soon!

There however is one sticky part. The Judge said that there was no reason to order the Mississippi River be set as a dividing line within the parish. Separating the parish by the river is akin to "creating a binary system" which is contrary to the consent order designed to eliminate segregation within the parish and create a unitary system. It was clear to all present, particularly Mrs. Mathis, Assistant to the Superintendant, that such an action was counter productive and that if a parent wishes to send their child to a school on the opposite side of the river from their residence they would be allow provide that parent understand that transportation would only be provide from their home to the nearest Magnet School. How hard is that to understand!!

Well attorneys are still singing that same song and dancing the same dance they did a year ago and I hope they are justifiably reprimanded. Parents are making plans to sent their children to a good school, but due to recent misrepresentation of this latest order some are still uncertain.

I beg of the school board and attorneys lay down your arms. You have presented the evidence in court yourself. Only about 50 or 60 students have been attending Magnet schools on the opposite side of the river from their residence. It has been 6 years since these schools have been opened. This can hardly be described as an effort by parents to "resegregate" themselves...a genuine fear expressed by the attorneys. Remember, approximately 20 of these students are Black.

Let this be the last word...until the next school board meeting:

"Space permitting, a student’s parent will be afforded an election to choose the elementary advanced studies academy in which to enroll his/her child. The school system will provide transportation where a student is enrolled in the elementary advanced studies academy in closest proximity to the home of the student’s parent or guardian."

So ordered, Judge Kurt Engelhardt

Students who fall short would be transferred (Expelled?)

NOLA's TP reporter Barri Bronston reports that JP Board member Judy Colgan proposed that "students making lower grades (in the Magnet program) would be better served at conventional schools, where they could take honors courses in their stronger subjects". She also is "asking the board to forbid advanced studies students to return to their current school if they make a D or F in a core subject at the end of the first semester".

There may be a different "Procedures and Policies for Parents and Students" guide in Jefferson Parish than the one I have for 2008 - 2009. If not then the one I have is applicable to all public schools. In this document I read an extensive list of procedures and policy that MAY result in suspension and expulsion which include, willful disobedience, disrespect of a teacher or administrator, profane language, immoral or vicious practices, leaving school without permission, traffic violations, interference with orderly conduct, bomb threats, possession of electronic communication devices, damage or vandalism of school property, carrying weapons, possessing legal drugs, possessing illegal drugs, a felony conviction...

Each of these offenses depending on its seriousness may accumulate to the 3rd offense, is subject to a review and mitigation within the school, can result in 3 days to 4 semester suspensions in the most serious cases. None require a transfer!

Jefferson Parish Schools are suppose to be designed to provide the facilities, qualified personnel and the necessary feedback that indicates to the students, parents and themselves that progress is being made in meeting educational expectations. Maybe this is the reason for the proposal but in my opinion earning a D or F does not fit in the list of disciplinary infractions. It certainly does not warrant the gravest of all consequences...EXPULSION!

Students want education to enable them to the be the best people that they can be and become. Parents want this same educational goal for their children. The Jefferson Parish Public School System is committed to working with parents and students to fulfill each of their goals. The procedures and policies in this pamphlet are designed to create an atmosphere conducive to each student's being and becoming the very best he/she can be.

JPSS