A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the mostly white city of Gardendale, Ala., cannot detach its students from a racially mixed county school system by forming its own district, reversing a lower court decision.The 11th Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Haikala must rescind the part of her 2017 order that allowed Gardendale to form its own system.
Last spring, Haikala granted Gardendale permission start its own system, with conditions, despite the fact that she concluded that race was the main motivation for the split. Advocates for racially mixed schools argued that Haikala’s ruling rolled back decades-long efforts to desegregate schools in the South.
Lawyers representing the black families in the 36,000-student Jefferson County system argued that the decision could lead to resegregation of a district with a history of intentionally separating white and black students. In their appeal to the 11th Circuit, the legal team —which included the NAACP Legal Defense Fund —agreed with Haikala’s findings of racial motivation, but disagreed with her giving Gardendale a plan for starting its own system in spite of her conclusion…
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Education Week could not immediately reach Gardendale schools Superintendent Patrick Martin for comment on the 11th Circuit ruling. Gardendale had also appealed Haikala’s ruling, in part because the city disputed her finding of racial motives.
Here’s a look at the 11th Circuit decision:
Gardendale Decision 2018 by corey_c_mitchell on Scribd