老澳门开奖结果

HARTFORD - The 老澳门开奖结果, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the Center for Children鈥檚 Advocacy and cooperating attorneys struck an agreement today with the state of Connecticut to implement compliance with a longstanding order from the state Supreme Court to desegregate Hartford public schools. The agreement, the latest stage in the case of Sheff v. O鈥橬eill, for the first time requires the state to create a detailed roadmap to follow in its effort to end the racial segregation faced by Hartford鈥檚 minority schoolchildren.

鈥淭his is a watershed day in our ongoing efforts to ensure that all of Hartford鈥檚 children are afforded their constitutional right to a quality integrated education,鈥� said Dennis Parker, Director of the 老澳门开奖结果 Racial Justice Program and an attorney in the case. 鈥淔or the first time in the 12 years since the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Hartford鈥檚 schools to be unconstitutionally racially segregated, the state must adhere to a clear framework for ensuring that it meets its constitutional obligations.鈥�
In 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that Hartford鈥檚 racially segregated schools violated minority students鈥� constitutional rights to an equal education. Although the court urged the legislature and governor to put school integration 鈥渁t the top of their respective agendas,鈥� the progress of integration has been glacial.
An agreement between the Sheff plaintiffs and Connecticut, reached in 2003, put forth a four-year plan by which the state would reduce the racial segregation within Hartford鈥檚 public schools. But over a decade after the state Supreme Court's ruling, Hartford-area schools remain divided by race and class. Though inter-district magnet schools and other programs have provided some of the region鈥檚 children access to quality, integrated educational opportunities, fewer than one in 10 Hartford-resident students of color currently attend an integrated school.

The deal reached today, once approved by both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly, will result in a system that will seek to meet the demand of Hartford-resident minority students for integrated education. The state will be required to meet a variety of benchmarks to ensure that opportunities for integrated education increase steadily over time, with the ultimate goal of making integrated education available to any student who seeks it.

The settlement also requires the state to create a comprehensive management plan that will outline goals and ways for the state to meet those goals 鈥� for the first time allowing the state to be held accountable for taking clearly defined steps toward achieving integrated education.

鈥淣othing less than the future of Hartford鈥檚 children is at stake,鈥� Parker said. 鈥淓qual opportunity to a quality, integrated education is a fundamental right and for the first time there is a clear structure in place for the state to follow to ensure that no child is denied that right.鈥�

Attorneys in the case are Matthew Colangelo of LDF, Parker and Larry Schwartztol of the 老澳门开奖结果 Racial Justice Program Martha Stone, Executive Director of the Center for Children鈥檚 Advocacy and cooperating attorney Wesley Horton.

More information on Sheff v. O鈥橬eill is available at: www.aclu.org/racialjustice/edu/28310res20070209.html