Desegregation- An End to Busing

Paulina Chyrk
Dr. Bruner
University of St. Thomas

Do parents and citizens have a valid claim? Why or why not?

I do believe the parents and citizens have a valid claim when stating that if the district
decided to discontinue elementary school busing, segregation would be recreated. Parents and
citizens have claimed opposition to busing and one of them being the issue of transportation.
According to Essex, A number of minority parents felt that one-way busing supported
discriminatory attitudes toward black children and that their children were bearing the burden by
having to be transported great distances from their neighborhoods (p. 320). Therefore, I believe
that minority parents, if given the option, would rather have their children transported to schools
closer to home as opposed to schools that are much further away. So if the district did away with
elementary school busing, I believe that minority parents would choose to keep their children
closer to home which would cause segregated schools again.
Are the districts actions designed to create segregated schools?
It is hard to determine whether the districts actions are designed to create segregated
schools because of the lack of information. All we know is that after achieving unitary status,
the district would like to discontinue elementary school busing. However, if the elementary
school busing discontinues, it is safe to say that elementary schools will go back to being
segregated, like mentioned earlier. One of the oppositions of busing is that parents, particularly
minority parents, would prefer their students to attend schools closer to home, therefore, if given
the option to stay closer to home, I believe that most parents would take that option, ultimately
keeping minority students at their home campuses. Upon receiving unitary status, the district
may use this as an opportunity to appease those parents and citizens that oppose busing to begin
with. Perhaps the district found this an opportunity to appease parents and citizens who

advocated that money be expended on improving neighborhood schools rather on busing

(Essex, p. 320).
Does the district have a right to discontinue elementary school busing and implement a
neighborhood plan after it has achieved unitary status?
School districts cannot simply discontinue busing without dealing with the courts first.
According to U.S. Education Law, there are certain factors that districts must attribute to in order
to claim unitary status. School districts must prove that officials implemented their
desegregation orders in good faith, that their plans were effective in eliminating all vestiges of
school segregation to the extent practicable under the Green factors, and that they have not
violated the U.S. Constitution subsequent to the original judicial decrees (Dual and Unitary
Systems). For example, in the Freeman v. Pitts case, the DeKalb County school system
implemented many provisions to achieve unitary status. The court claimed that unitary status
had been achieved in student assignments, transportation, physical facilities, and extracurricular
activities. However, unitary status had not been achieved in faculty assignments and resources
allocation, so the court retained control of these two areas (Essex, p. 326). According to Essex,
Once unitary status has been achieved by a school district and no deliberate action has been
taken to recreate segregated schools, the school district is not required to seek remedies in
situations involving segregation that may evolve that are beyond the districts control (p. 327).
Did the district use its new status to engage in de jure segregation? Why or why not?
De jure segregation is deemed unconstitutional by the courts. Essex defines de jure
segregation as, racial segregation derived from the enforcement of law (p. 322). There are
three elements that are usually present in de jure segregation and one of them being, the action

must result in creating or increasing segregation (Essex, p. 322). The parents and citizens of
this district are claiming that if the school district were to discontinue busing, this would recreate
segregated schools, which is an element of de jure segregation. If the district can prove that it
has acted in good faith to eliminate vestiges of past discrimination, then it would not be acting on
de jure segregation.
How do you think the court would rule in this case? Provide a rationale.
I believe that if the district claimed unitary status, the court would have to determine if
the district achieved unitary status under factors composed of desegregation orders in good faith,
eliminating all vestiges of school segregation under the Green factors, and that the districts had
not violated the U.S. Constitution after the original judicial orders. As mentioned earlier, in the
case of Freeman v. Pitts, a school district in Georgia had claimed that they achieved unitary
status. Upon further investigating their claim, the court learned that the district had not achieved
unitary status in two areas: faculty assignments and resource allocation. According to Essex,
The district court then relinquished control in the four areas found to be unitary but retained
control of the remaining two areas (p. 326). All in all, the court would need to determine if this
district achieved unitary status in all factors.
What are the administrative implications of this case?
Busing has been a controversial topic among the courts, educators, parents, and citizens
of the community. In our district, we have a few schools that are predominately white or
predominately minority, and those predominately minority schools are the ones that are low
performing schools. There have not been many studies done on the benefits of busing. There
have been claims that it may help diminish the achievement gap, but according to one study, the

achievement gap between bused and non-bused students was not significantly different
(Lawrence, p. 5). Desegregating our schools will not necessarily diminish the achievement gap
because so many other factors go into play when it comes to a quality education. Typically,
parents of minority students are single parents working two, three jobs to support their family, so
no one is home to support the student when it comes to their education. If minority students
were bused to affluent schools, at the end of the day, they would still be returning home to empty
homes and no parent or guardian in sight to monitor them. As an administrator, it would be
beneficial to set up an after school tutorial program for those students that have no one to go
home to, where students would use that time to complete assignments and receive additional
help. Also, establishing a mentor program for students so that they have an adult figure to look
up to if their parent or guardian is working would be beneficial as students need a strong role
model in their life to lead them in the right direction. So it shouldn't come down to
desegregating schools, but instead, providing a quality education for ALL students despite the
color of their skin.

Works Cited
Dual and Unitary Systems. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2015, from http://usedulaw.com/261-dualand-unitary-systems.html
Essex, N.L. (2012). School Law and the Public Schools: A Practical Guide for
Educational Leaders. Sixth Edition.
Felice, L. G. (1974). Busing, Desegregation and Student Self-Concept.