Judge frees Little Rock schools from federal supervision 50 years after Central High crisis

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Little Rock's school district has been freed from federal supervision, a half-century after a defiant governor's refusal to allow nine black students into an all-white Central High sparked one of the biggest crises of the civil rights era.

U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson Jr. issued a ruling Friday that found that the district was substantially complying with a 1998 desegregation plan worked out in the 27,000-student district.

Little Rock, which now has a black-majority school board, was satisfactorily evaluating its academic programs in the effort to improve achievement on blacks, the ruling found.

In 1957, President Eisenhower dispatched the 101st Airborne to enforce a U.S. Supreme Court order striking down segregation after Gov. Orval Faubus tried to prevent black students from enrolling at Central High.

Superintendent Roy Brooks was careful to note that Wilson's decision did not mean an end to progress among the district's students, 70 percent of whom are black.

"The district has been given back to the people of this community, and my pledge to them is to continue to work hard and recognize that we're all going to have to work hard," Brooks said.

A final sticking point, which stemmed from a 1982 lawsuit, had been whether the district was adequately measuring black students' test scores to determine whether they were improving. Late last year, the district adopted a resolution that said it would continue to assess the progress of black students even if the district was not under court supervision.

In Little Rock, as is the case nationwide, black students on average score below their white classmates on standardized tests. The gap in Little Rock is as large as 40 points on both state and national standardized tests. There has been some improvement over the years, but many argue there hasn't been enough.

"We're certainly disappointed in view of the lack of progress this district has made in addressing the needs of African-American students," said John Walker, a lawyer for Joshua Intervenors, which represents black students. "The standard was not high for the district to meet, but they certainly have not met it. We will have to pursue other means."

School board member Baker Kurrus, who is white, called Wilson's decision "a well-deserved endorsement."

"We have to prove that we're capable of managing our district and make sure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated," Kurrus said. "We simply must reach all students in our district."

Little Rock plans to mark the 50th anniversary of the Central High integration later this year with a series of ceremonies featuring the Little Rock Nine, former President Clinton and others.