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Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2010 > March > 24 > Entry
DPS desegregation case ends after 38 years
DAYTON — The Dayton Public Schools unequal education case, filed by the NAACP in 1972 and settled nearly eight years ago, came to a close on Monday, March 22.
U.S. District Senior Judge Walter H. Rice, in his ruling Monday, agreed with the school district that his jurisdiction over the settlement agreement ended in 2007, effectively ending the case.
“We’ve come to a resolution that in the end will help our school district,” said Superintendent Kurt Stanic.
NAACP local president Derrick L. Foward said he was not disappointed in the ruling and held a joint news conference with Stanic, incoming Dayton Superintendent Lori Ward and Dayton school board President Jeffrey J. Mims Jr.
“We’re going to stand in solidarity to continue to work together as the NAACP and Dayton Public Schools,” Foward said Wednesday at NAACP headquarters on West Third Street. “There will still be in place some accountability as it relates to the monitoring of the school district,” Foward said.
The 2002 settlement between the NAACP, the district and the state, also ended busing for racial balance. It shifted the focus from racial balance to the quality of education, with a five-year plan for improving academics, estimated to cost $30 to $35 million. The settlement also gave the district $32.3 million in state funds.
The promise of new schools helped convince the NAACP to agree to drop the desegregation order.
“I’m glad we ended so we could get some new schools, better facilities,” said the Rev. Renee Sheppard, a 30-year Dayton community volunteer attending the press conference.
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