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Reassignment comes to Franklin
by Suzanne Rook, Wake Weekly Co-editor
A new reassignment plan given the Franklin County school board Wednesday would move more than 300 students now scheduled to attend schools in Youngsville, Franklinton and Royal.
The proposal, part of plan to remove the school system from a nearly 40-year-old federal desegregation order, would take effect in the 2005-06 school year. The school board agreed last June, at the federal court's urging, to hire a consultant to draw up possible reassignment plans. In August 2002, the court expressed displeasure with the school system's progress integrating in three areas, including student assignment at Youngsville, Franklinton and Louisburg Elementary schools. While approximately 36 percent of the county's student population is black, only 19 percent of Youngsville's students are black. Franklinton is 54 percent black, Louisburg is 58 percent black. Franklin County Schools, unlike most other North Carolina school systems, must consider race as a factor in student assignment. The mandate stems from a 1964 lawsuit filed by Harold Douglas Coppedge and the U.S. Department of Justice. The suit alleged the system hadn't done enough to integrate Franklin County schools. At the time -- 11 years after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the rights of black students to attend what had been considered all-white schools -- Franklin schools were almost completely segregated. A plan allowing students to select the school they wished to attend, sent only a handful of black students to the all-white schools. By 1968, the court still wasn't satisfied and ordered complete integration. Formerly all-white schools soon opened for blacks and whites in grades 7-12, while the former black schools were accessible to all the county's elementary schoolchildren. The plan, prepared by Kelly Carey of Associated Planning and Research, affects every school, except Riverside (a magnet) and Bunn elementaries. Under the proposal 172 students living just south of Bert Winston Road from the Granville County line to Westbrook Lane would move from Youngsville to Franklinton Elementary. Another 26 students now in the Royal Elementary district living near Peach Orchard Road and Wickersham Way would be sent to Louisburg Elementary. Forty Franklinton Elementary students would move if the plan is approved, 17 who reside near West River and Hodges roads would shift to Louisburg, another 23 living near Breedlove Road would be sent to Laurel Mill. The plan moves fewer students in the upper grades. Only 30 would come out of Cedar Creek, 34 would leave Franklinton High, while another 79 come into Red Ram country from Louisburg. While the changes make Youngsville, Franklinton and Louisburg elementaries more racially balanced, Laurel Mill Elementary would actually become more segregated, moving from 47 to 53 percent black. Years ago, the Justice Department ordered the school system to keep its school population within 15 percent of the county average, allowing exceptions for elementary schools so students could attend neighborhood schools. The board has the option of accepting the plan or creating its own. Any plan would have to be accepted by the federal court.
Last Updated On: April 29, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Wake Weekly