Abstract
This paper focuses on the two districts directly involved in the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (PICS) (2007) case with regard to how their desegregation plans and levels of segregation changed over time. The study emphasizes how segregation levels changed in response to changes in the plans and, in particular, to the Supreme Court ruling in PICS. The results differed greatly between the two districts. The voluntary desegregation plan in Jefferson County, Kentucky, proved far more effective than its Seattle counterpart in terms of maintaining a relatively low level of segregation prior to the PICS ruling. Jefferson County also remained more committed to desegregation than Seattle over the timeframe of the study. For these reasons, the PICS decision had a greater impact in Jefferson County because the ruling abolished a successful desegregation plan, leading to increased segregation. By contrast, prior modifications of the Seattle desegregation plan had rendered it ineffective, which led to increased segregation prior to PICS. The ruling itself had little effect in Seattle because increased segregation already had occurred in that district.
Recommended Citation
William J. Glenn,
School Segregation in Jefferson County And Seattle: The Impact Of the Parents Involved Ruling And District Actions,
63 Clev. St. L. Rev.
297
(2015)
available at https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol63/iss2/5
Comments
Symposium: American Education: Diversity, Desegregation and Resegregation