Re: ASSIGNING STUDENTS BY RACE OK AS LONG AS YOU WIN SOME,

[Richard <rpouncy@southcentral.net>]

Dear Arthur;

Could you forward the URL for the following article?

thank you.

Arthur Hu wrote:

> Ï'm sorry, but this is a pretty wacky way of justifying that
> chosing people by race doens't discriminate. Doesn't "discrminate"
> mean disguish by???
>
>
> ASSIGNING STUDENTS BY RACE OK AS LONG AS YOU WIN SOME, LOSE SOME??
> z68\clip\2003\06\raceok.txt
> Seattle Times June 26, 2003
> State Supreme Court OKs use of race in high school admissions
> By Paul Queary
> The Associated Press
>
> OLYMPIA  The state Supreme Court upheld the Seattle School Districts
> use of race as a tiebreaker in high school admissions today, sending
> the case back to federal appeals court.  In an 8-1 ruling, the court
> found the districts "open choice" plan does not violate Initiative
> 200, the voter-approved law that bans racial preferences in education,
> government hiring and contracting.
>
> The district allows students to choose which high school they attend,
> but uses race as one criteria in choosing students when not enough
> slots are available, so popular schools wont become segregated. A
> group of parents challenged the law.
>
> The majority found the policy is race-neutral because in some cases
> the system chooses a minority student and in others favors a white
> student.
>
> "The school districts open choice plan does not discriminate against,
> or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the
> basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as meant by
> law," Justice Tom Chambers wrote. "To the extent the tiebreaker is
> race-conscious, it furthers a core mission of public education; to
> make available an equal, uniform and enriching educational environment
> to all students within the district."
>
> The courts lone dissenter, Justice Richard Sanders, called that a
> tortured argument that overlooks individual cases of discrimination.
>
> "The fact the procedure may provide preferential treatment to one race
> in one instance and to another in a subsequent instance does not
> render it racially neutral, but rather unlawful in both instances,"
> Sanders wrote.
>
> The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted the districts practice
> temporarily last year while the states high court was deciding the
> issue.
>
> Joining Chambers in upholding the open choice plan Chief Justice Gerry
> Alexander and Justices Faith Ireland, Barbara Madsen, Bobbe Bridge,
> Charles Johnson, Charles Smith and Susan Owens.
>
> The case is Parents involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School
> District, No. 72712-1.
>
> Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company
>