TUSD schools at risk of having their magnet status revoked are being given more time to improve racial integration and academic achievement.
A federal judge overseeing the Tucson Unified School Districtโs desegregation case has agreed to give the campuses the remainder of the school year to prove that they should retain their status and the funding that comes with it to support specialized programming.
โWeโre positive and happy that we have the time,โ said TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez. โWeโll be pulling the principals together as soon as we get back from the Thanksgiving break to go over the court order line by line to make sure everyone understands what all is needed and what all will have to be done.โ
Though the reprieve is welcome by TUSD leadership, the court reminded the district of its obligation to make a good-faith effort to bring racial balance to its schools and to ensure that the public is well-informed about what is happening in the decades-old desegregation case.
In giving the schools more time, U.S. District Court Judge David Bury ordered TUSD to create transitional plans for the schools at risk should they lose their magnet status after a review of 40th-day enrollment next school year.
The plans should ensure that โextraordinary programs which have been developed in the quest for magnet status are not lost and to ensure that the academic needs of students at these schools, especially underachieving students, are met, programmatically and fiscally, upon the loss of magnet status,โ Bury wrote.
He also approved a set of stipulations proposed by the Latino plaintiffs in the case, which the district agreed to.
As part of that, TUSD is required to restore a funding cut by the district for magnet schools. Deadlines have also been set for TUSD to fill teaching vacancies at the at-risk campuses, and a process has been set up to ensure that the schools will have first dibs on applicants for next school year.
According to Sanchez, all of the vacancies have been filled by certified staff who are serving in classrooms until graduates from the state universities have their degrees conferred this winter.
The exception is a science teaching position at Pueblo, but that is also expected to be filled in January, Sanchez said.
The judge noted that a previous effort by the district to get out from under the federal court order failed because of a lack of good-faith effort, He called on the TUSD Governing Board to convey accurate information to the public and required that court orders on substantial matters be posted online at tusd1.org
โBecause of the highly visible nature of the magnet schools, the Court has received large numbers of letters from concerned citizens,โ Bury wrote.
โThese letters reflect a great amount of misunderstanding by the public regarding the changes underway to TUSDโs magnet program.
โThe TUSD Board is the appropriate venue for the community to obtain information regarding this case and the best venue for the community to provide input and express concerns regarding this case.โ
Bury has asked that the special master โ a desegregation expert appointed by Bury to oversee TUSDโs efforts โ provide substantive orders to Governing Board President Adelita Grijalva.
โIn this way, on an ongoing basis, she may be kept abreast of the facts of this case, including the Courtโs logic and reasoning, and the progress of the USP Unitary Status Plan),โ he said.
Bury also rejected a request by TUSD for a hearing to discuss concerns that the plaintiffs were overreaching by delving into matters that should be left to the district and Governing Board.
โThe Court has at all times, and will continue, to consider all Plaintiffsโ objections and the Special Masterโs (reports and recommendations) in the context of the express provisions of the Unitary Status Plan,โ Bury wrote, adding that the plan under which they are operating was adopted in large part by agreement of the parties and adopted by the Governing Board at the time.
โThe constitutional standard, which the Court reminds Defendants they failed to meet โฆ is: TUSD must act in good faith to eliminate the vestiges of past segregation to the extent practicable.โ
Sanchez has said he believes the district is showing a good-faith effort to improve academic achievement. He points to increased participation by minority students in advanced coursework and rolling out a curriculum that for years was nonexistent.
Work to reduce disparities in discipline has also improved, with fewer students being suspended than in years past, Sanchez said.
In terms of integration, Sanchez said the district will have to continue to work hard to try to attract students to magnet programs.
โGood-faith effort is can you show document-wise and results-wise what youโve been doing to improve,โ Sanchez said. โWe have a pretty impressive dossier of our work thatโs not just good-faith effort, but good results as well.โ
