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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Reaction to High Court's school ruling Reaction to High Court's school ruling By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Some reaction to the Supreme Court decision Thursday rejecting school integration plans in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle: --- "I believed so much in what we are doing, I just felt we had to win. The goal here is to make sure all kids have access to great schools." - Kathleen Brose, president of Parents Involved in Community Schools, who sued the Seattle school district after her daughter failed to get into a highly regarded high school. --- "I'm confident the Jefferson County Public Schools leadership team will develop new guidelines for student assignment that will continue this community's commitment to diversity and educational excellence." - Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson. --- "This is a very lame excuse to tell a school system that they don't have to use race as an arbiter to help kids achieve and get a fair deal. In a world that still has the vestiges of racism, that's a ridiculous rationale." - Warlene Gary, CEO of the National Parent Teacher Association. --- "These decisions take away the right of local communities to ensure that all students benefit from racially diverse classrooms. Recent evidence shows that integrated schools promote minority academic achievement and can help close the achievement gap." - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. --- "Today's decision turns back the clock on equality in our schools." - Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. --- "The premise is laid for the resegregation of America and the denial of opportunity. ... Inheritance and access will not be counterbalanced by equal protection." - The Rev. Jesse Jackson. --- "It so limits what the districts can do, this decision. ... You need some mechanism to more assertively balance school enrollment." - Amy Stuart Wells, professor of sociology and education at Columbia University. --- "A majority of the court still agrees that racial diversity is a boon to education, yet every time schools reach for that goal, the Supreme Court moves the goal posts." - Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. --- "Today's Supreme Court ruling has placed a serious obstacle in the way of achieving the vision of America first outlined in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, where we see racially integrated education as the best way to reflect our great diversity, unite our nation, and make real our promise of equal opportunity for all." - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. --- "The 5-4 decision reflects the narrowest of court majorities, but it has the potential to touch the lives of many by making it unlawful for public school officials and their communities to consider race among other factors in taking needed steps to address the resegregation of a critically important institution that is more segregated today than it was 30 years ago." - Cassandra Butts, senior vice president for domestic policy at the Center for American Progress. --- "There can't be a dual system of school assignments based on race or ethnicity. Racial quotas and preferences never produce diversity - they produce animosity, bitterness and perpetuate the belief that minority students just can't hack it." - Edward Blum, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. --- "Clearly, we need better race-neutral alternatives. Instead of spending zillions of dollars around the country to place a black child next to a white child, let's reduce class size. All the schools are equal. We will no longer accept that an African-American majority within a school is unacceptable." - Teddy Gordon, a Louisville attorney who represented the plaintiffs. --- "The rejection of the Seattle and Louisville school plans represents a significant step backwards in a nation where schools are becoming increasingly segregated by race and ethnicity." - Dennis Parker, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's racial justice project --- "The Supreme Court decision in the school desegregation cases is appalling. Ever since Brown v. Board of Education, it has been settled law that the Constitution requires racially mixed schools. Today's decision turns Brown upside down and ignores decades of constitutional history. If this isn't judicial activism, I don't know what is." - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. --- "The decision is a blow to the cause of ensuring that every child has an equal chance to succeed. As someone who grew up in the South, as someone who knows the difference between the brutal segregation of Jim Crow and the decent integration efforts of Louisville and Seattle today, I find the decision deeply saddening." - former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
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