Jefferson County, Ky., Racial Diversity Plan Survives Court Challenge
A federal district judge has turned away an initial legal challenge to the Jefferson County, Ky., school district's racial diversity plan developed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the district's earlier plan.
The Associated Press reports here, and the Louisville Courier-Journal reports here.
The revised plan will use geography to maintain racial diversity in the district's schools. I blogged about the plan here when it was released in January.
According to the news accounts, U.S. District Judge John Heybourn II of Louisville told the lawyer challenging the new plan, Teddy Gordon, that the policy is not an "obvious, clear-cut" violation of the Supreme Court's ruling in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District, which covered both Seattle's and Jefferson County's race-conscious student assignment plans. If Gordon finds a plaintiff he believes is actually harmed under the Kentucky district's new plan, he should file a new legal challenge to the plan, the judge said.
