Louisiana school board's consolidation plan unfairly affects Black and Latino students, legal advocates say

The Louisiana legal advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is urging the U.S. Department of Education to investigate the Jefferson Parish School Board's decision to consolidate several schools.

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (WGNO) — The Louisiana legal advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is urging the U.S. Department of Education to investigate the Jefferson Parish School Board's decision to consolidate several schools.

According to a statement from the SPLC, organizers have filed an administrative complaint with the USDE's Office of Civil Rights, claiming the school board's plan to consolidate and relocate several parish schools disproportionately affects Black and LatinX students and is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“The Jefferson Parish School District is 34 percent Black, 22 percent White, and 37 percent Hispanic. However, the schools that the School Board is closing serve an overwhelming majority of Black and Latino students, and are located in communities of color,” the complaint states.

This follows the approval of the school district's approval of its 2023 infrastructure plan earlier this month, which will close schools that include Grace King and Helen Cox high schools.

With the new plan comes new rezoning maps that will determine where affected students will attend school next year. A decision that was delayed by the school board at a meeting Monday evening.

“Leave the kids where they are supposed to be because if the parents and the kids are happy at the district they are, why change and why mess with the system?” parent Lareasha Smith told WGNO.

School officials will meet again on May 3 to discuss the rezoning maps.

Latest Stories