Board: School has met criteria

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Apr 28, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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The Evangeline Parish School Board is seeking partial freedom from federal oversight in the parish’s long-running desegregation case.

The School Board has filed court documents seeking a federal judge’s OK that the school system has met desegregation requirements in its transportation services and extracurricular activities and in the assignment of teachers and staff.

“The School Board in its current and most recent compositions, cognizant of the historical tensions in this case, has taken bold steps demonstrating a unified intent to … continue to maintain the desegregated unitary character of the district,” School Board attorneys wrote in legal filings.

U.S. District Judge Tucker Melancon said during a court hearing in March that he was open to removing federal oversight from some aspects of the school system this year because the board had shown “good faith” in addressing desegregation issues.

A court date on the School Board’s request has been set for next month.

The School Board must meet federal desegregation criteria in six areas to end the decades-old lawsuit.

Even if the judge signed off of the four areas requested by the School Board, the two thorniest issues remain — student assignment and the equality of facilities.

Central to both issues is the predominantly black Ville Platte High School, which suffers from poor academics and facilities that don’t measure up to schools in the parish serving predominantly white student populations.

The Justice Department has sought closure of Ville Platte High, which would result in students there being transferred to other schools in the parish.

Melancon toured Ville Platte High earlier this year and offered the School Board some hope with comments that he was impressed with the students and the $3 million in upgrades that have been made there in recent years, but he gave no assurances that the school will remain open.

The judge said he plans to work personally with lawyers in the case to determine if an acceptable improvement plan could be crafted as an alternative to closing the school.

The School Board failed three times in 13 months to win approval for a property tax to build a new school to replace the 1930s-era facilities in Ville Platte.

The School Board and the Justice Department reached an agreement in 2004 that called for major facility upgrades at Ville Platte High and special academic programs to attract more white students.