A decades-old order to desegregate Garland ISD could soon be lifted.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould, of the Dallas-based Northern District of Texas, filed a motion last month to lift a 1970 federal order put in place when Garland ISD was majority white and its schools were racially segregated. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, trustees could vote Jan. 20 to seek the end of federal court oversight.
In his motion, Raybould said there’s “no question Garland ISD has complied with the plan. He cites massive demographic changes in the district in the 55 years since the order was imposed. In 1970, most Garland ISD students were white while the district’s segregated George Washington Carver school was all Black. That school was closed.
Today, 55% of district students are Hispanic, 13% are white and 18% are Black.
“Garland ISD eliminated its system of formal segregation many years ago, including by doing away with the former segregated Carver school, and the demographic composition of its schools today…indicates that there are also no remaining vestiges of any former discriminatory policies,” he wrote.
Several years after the court order was in place, Garland’s NAACP took an active role in the plan and is listed as an intervenor in the case. KERA reached out to the organization but hasn’t heard back.
Raybould’s motion asks the court to declare “unitary status,” meaning it has “complied in good faith with segregation orders.”
Activist Tony Torres served on the Multi-Ethnic Committee Garland ISD was required to form under the order and said it’s time for it to be released.
“The district was dealing with obsolete data and issues pertaining to, well, another era,” he said. “The intent of the order had been met.”
Longtime Garland resident Koni Kaiwi agreed ending the order is long overdue.
“I truly believe,” she said, “ this order needed to have been lifted 20 years ago. (It’s) well, well past time. It is like super ripe.”
The Garland ISD school board is set to vote Tuesday to seek an end to federal oversight and declare the district “unitary.”
In a statement, the district said regardless of the court’s decision, it will “continue to work collaboratively with the NAACP and its community partners and remains committed to systems and practices grounded in its belief that all means all.”
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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