Politics & Government

Office for Civil Rights Looking Into Duluth/Peachtree Ridge Redistricting

Duluth parents file complaints with U.S. Department of Education alleging discrimination.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is evaluating complaints filed by Duluth parents alleging discrimination against Hispanic and Afro-American students by Gwinnett County Public Schools in redistricting approved for the 2011-12 school year.

The Gwinnett County Board of Education voted April 21 to redistrict a total of 505 students from schools in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster into the Duluth Cluster to relieve overcrowding in Hull Middle School and Peachtree Ridge High School in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster. The redistricting includes shifting three apartment complexes and two extended stay hotels near Gwinnett Place Mall from the Peachtree Ridge Cluster to the Duluth Cluster.

“The complaint allegations are currently under evaluation to determine if they are appropriate for OCR investigation,” said Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the federal Education Department.

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The first complaint alleges that the GCPS discriminates against low-income and minority students because the redistricting prevents students from attending Peachtree Ridge High School in the more affluent Peachtree Ridge Cluster. The complaint further alleges that the redistricting will impose an undue burden on already poorer Duluth High School in the Duluth Cluster, while protecting Peachtree Ridge High School in the wealthy area from an influx of poor and minority students.  

A separate second complaint alleges that the Gwinnett school system discriminates on the basis of race and national origin because it selected 450 underprivileged Hispanic and African-American children to move from an affluent school cluster to an already overburdened poorer school. The affected Hispanic and African-American students are the only ones selected to move, according to the complaint.

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Both complaints were received by the OCR April 18. If it is decided that an investigation is appropriate, Bradshaw explained, the OCR will begin gathering information to determine if the school system is in compliance with civil rights laws. This may involve site visits and talking to individuals, he said. “We try to wrap up investigations within six months,” Bradshaw said, “but sometimes it takes longer due to complexity of the allegations.”

If the OCR determines that civil rights laws were violated, it would attempt to negotiate an agreement with the school system to bring it into compliance. While in virtually all cases the OCR is able to reach an agreement, he said, it does have enforcement options. 

Under the federal Privacy Act, the OCR is prohibited from disclosing the names of complainants in its cases. Lynne Sycamore, who has two daughters attending Duluth Middle and Duluth High schools, identified herself as among “a handful of parents” who filed the first complaint with the OCR.

The parents appealed to the federal government, she said, because GCPS denied numerous open records requests when they inquired why these particular low-income and minority children were selected to be redistricted. “They are farthest away from the (Duluth) high school and middle school areas,” Sycamore said. “Most of the children are coming from Mason Elementary, which is under capacity,” she also said.

While the redistricting was proposed by GCPS to relieve overcrowding at Peachtree Ridge High School and Hull Middle School, Sycamore said, “Berkeley Lake Elementary with 15 trailers was ignored. The proposal didn’t include it at all.”  Berkeley Lake Elementary is located in the Duluth Cluster. During redistricting hearings, Berkeley Lake parents urged GCPS to address the overcrowding there, too.

Sycamore said parents who filed the complaint had two objectives. “One, to hopefully shine a spotlight on a government entity that feels it does not have to be held accountable to children or populations they serve." The second objective, she said, is to make GCPS go back to the table and redraw the lines so the clusters will be more balanced and the redistricting does not discriminate against low-income and minority children. 

GCPS had not received notice of the OCR complaints as of last Friday (April 29), according to Jorge Quintana, director of media relations for the school system. “Our criteria for redistricting are clear,” Quintana said, “and take into account current enrollment, enrollment forecast, enrollment history, existing identifiable boundaries, school locations, and student transportation.”

The purpose of redistricting, he reiterated, is to provide housing for the most students in standard classrooms, relieve school overcrowding, balance enrollment among clusters, disrupt the least number of students in the process, and keep neighborhoods intact where possible. 

Several parents at public hearings and forums during the redistricting process asked the school board to use socio-economic data to balance enrollment in the clusters. School officials repeatedly emphasized that GCPS does not consider socio-economic factors in redistricting.

For more information on how OCR handles civil rights complaints, visit http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaintprocess.html.  


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