RALEIGH, N.C. – When North Carolina’s Wake County decided to do away with race-based busing to desegregate schools, local officials came up with a novel solution to maintain balance.
The new method of assigning students by their socio-economic background rather than race helped to keep campuses integrated. Adopted in 2000, it quickly became a blueprint for other school systems.
That policy, however, has never sat well with many suburban parents—often White and middle class—who argue that the student assignment plan sends their kids too far from home. And a new school board, swept into office by those vocal parents, appears poised to scrap it in a vote expected to take place Tuesday evening.
Dozens of parents and students lined up to speak against the policy as discussion began late Tuesday afternoon.
Curtis Gatewood, a Black man, urged the board not to dump the diversity plan and decried “White racists.”’ His comments were interrupted by jeers.
“If you want to go to hell, don’t expect to take our children with you,” he said to the board as authorities approached to calm him down.
The issue has revived the term “segregation” and brought the weight of history into recent school board meetings. Some parents and students around the state capital have implored the newly elected leaders to back away from their plan to drastically alter the diversity policy.
