Equal Opportunity in the Fort Wayne Community Schools: A ...

icular materials are being addressed by enforcementagencies in a fragmentary fashion.Current School Desegregation Issuesin Fort Wayne9. The Indiana Civil Rights Commission is attemptingto negotiate a settlement with FortWayne to resolve 15 charges of discriminationin employmen. and in the educational programthat the commission brought against the schooldistrict in May 1974.10. The superintendent has proposed a reorganizationplan, which includes proposals forreducing racial imbalances. The plan is unacceptableto many individuals (including someboard members) and organizations in the community,primarily because it does not go farenough in desegregating the schools and itplaces the burden of desegregation on theminority community.11. A coalition of local white and minority organizationsthat has publicly opposed the superintendent'sproposal is seeking major revisionsin the plan.A variety of issues, involving several individuals,community organizations, and public agencies,have been raised in this investigation. Given thetimeliness of this report our recommendations include,first, a series of immediate actions that canbe taken during the next few weeks, and second,procedural proposals regarding the Federal civilrights enforcement effort in the area of education,based on the experience in the Fort Wayne case.Recommendations for ImmediateActions:1. The Indiana Advisory Committee to the U.S.Commission on Civil Rights recommends to thesuperintendent and board members that the FortWayne Community Schools develop a new reorganizationplan. In doing so the school administrationshould work with the Fort Wayne community,including parents of black and Hispanicstudents, teachers, and representatives of majorwomen's and minority organizations.Such a plan should be educationally sound; itshould allow for systemwide desegregation; itshould address the issues raised in the IndianaCivil Rights Commission complaint; and itshould be responsive to the major disagreementssurrounding the current reorganization proposal.2. The Advisory Committee recommends thatthe U.S. Commission on Civil Rights formallyrequest that OCR reopen and that the Departmentof Justice more actively pursue their investigationsof the student assignment issue inthe Fort Wayne schools. OCR should also monitormore closely the district's implementation offaculty desegregation.These agencies should be asked to update theirfiles, to reexamine all relevant information, andto reconsider all previous decisions on this issue.The Commission should recommend that theseagencies give equal consideration to communityinput, particularly that from representatives ofthe various protected groups, and to data providedby the Fort Wayne Community Schools. Ifviolations of Federal law are found to exist,these agencies should review any proposed reorganizationplan for the Fort Wayne schools. Ifthe proposed plan does not remedy the Federalviolations, enforcement proceedings should beinitiated.Recommendations for ProceduralChanges in the Civil RightsEnforcement Effort3. The Advisory Committee recommends thatthe Commission's Office of Federal Civil RightsEvaluation conduct periodic reviews and publishreports of specific OCR and Department ofJustice investigations, focusing on those caseswhere potential Title VI violations are found oraction under Title IV appears warranted basedon onsite reviews. The first such review shouldbegin within 60 to 90 days and should coverOCR procedures utilized in settling the cases involvedin the 1976 case of Brown v. Weinbergerand procedures utilized by the Department ofJustice in its current investigation of the FortWayne schools.Among the issues that should be examined are:the criteria employed in determining whether ornot evidence supports the finding of a violation;whether and how official agency records of decisionsare maintained; how these agencies attemptto bring about voluntary compliance; andhow they monitor settlements reached with noncomplyingdistricts.4. The Advisory Committee recommends thatthe Commission request:14