A federal judge has rejected Tucson Unified School District's petition to reopen a school at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, saying it would adversely affect its desegregation obligations.
U.S. District Judge David Bury said in a ruling dated May 8 that the move to transform the former Lowell Smith Elementary School into a middle school would create two racially identifiable schools, Smith as non-minority, and nearby Naylor Middle School as minority.
"Naylor is about 82 percent minority," the judge wrote in his ruling. "If Smith is reopened as a middle school, it is expected to have only about 40 percent minority students."
TUSD closed Smith last year, citing a drop in enrollment, potential savings and the opportunity for students to attend Borman Elementary School, also on base. The state in 2006 deemed Naylor a failing school.
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The new middle school would have allowed students from the base to attend Smith instead of Naylor.
The judge noted that the TUSD plan would increase Naylor's minority base to about 86 percent, which would be detrimental to ongoing efforts to reduce segregation in the district.
"Removal of D-M students from the community served by Naylor Middle School is also not in the best interest of the community, especially those members attending Naylor Middle School," Bury wrote. He ordered the district to file a response within 20 days to a charge that it may have violated a student-transfer policy aimed at ensuring racial balance in schools.
The district would submit transfer data to the court within the allotted time, TUSD Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer said Friday. No decision has been made on whether to appeal the judge's ruling on Smith school, he added.
"We're disappointed," Pfeuffer said. "We felt that we had a plan that was acceptable within a larger vision of what desegregation is trying to accomplish."
He understands the judge's conclusion that Naylor would be considered a racially identifiable school, Pfeuffer said. But he said he didn't think that was the case for Smith, which the district projected would open with a student enrollment of 60 percent non-minority and 40 percent minority. The figures reflect the community it serves, Pfeuffer added.
Rubin Salter Jr., the attorney for black parents in the district's long-standing desegregation case, said he was pleased with Bury's decision.
"It sends a message to TUSD," he said. "He reminds them this is a desegregation case first and foremost. The second issue is: What is in the best interest of the community?"
The district plan was ill-conceived from the start, Salter said, adding that public money would be better spent on improving Naylor and other failing schools.
"It was repugnant to me as a taxpayer; this school was going to be basically Anglo," Salter said.
Sylvia Campoy, chairwoman of the Independent Citizens Committee, said she was thrilled with the judge's ruling. "I think the decision is very sound and I am very pleased that the court did take all of the input into consideration."
The committee is a group created under a desegregation order to monitor the district. It is made up of volunteers, Campoy added.
The district sent home a notice about the ruling and a scheduled a meeting Monday to discuss options available for affected families, said TUSD spokeswoman Chyrl Hill Lander. The gathering will be held at 3 p.m. at the D-M community center.
"Some parents had already planned on enrolling their kids at Smith school," she said.
On Friday, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund praised the court ruling in a written statement, saying the district's plans would have set back desegregation efforts.
