JACKSON, Miss. - Federal U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate released the Meridian Public School District (MPSD) from federal supervision stemming from a decades-old desegregation lawsuit, which included a 2013 order for the district to improve disciplinary practices that disproportionately affected Black students.
Wingate approved Meridian schools leaving federal oversight, ruling the majority-Black district has eliminated the effects of past segregation. He praised the district for reducing the number of suspensions that led some students to drop out of school.
The judge's approval was the final step in an agreement that had been reached and filed with the court four years ago between the school district, the U.S. Justice Department and private plaintiffs, who had complained of racial discrimination in the district’s student disciplinary practices and contended they amounted to a “school-to-prison pipeline.”
Attorneys for the Justice Department, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of the private parties, were on hand for the hearing and said they had no objection to Wingate granting unitary status to the Meridian school district.
The unitary status designation shows the district has eliminated vestiges of prior segregation to the extent possible and no longer needs federal supervision. (Meridian Star 09/1e/23) Judge releases MPSD from desegregation order | News | meridianstar.com
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