Hereford v. Huntsville Board of Education

The case between Sunny Hereford and the Huntsville Board of Education has been one on the subject of desegregation. In this case, the Court declared that certain practices by Huntsville City Schools needed to be reviewed, as Huntsville was under a federal desegregation order.

From this case, a Consent Order was drawn out to provide a pathway toward change. There are many changes being put into place, and to help better understand some of these changes I will help summarize and simplify this outline that has been drawn up.

Normally, teachers would do their best to explain these sort of issues, however, students will not be able to rely on them for this information. Their (always intelligent) superintendent has given them a gag order, assuring they are not able to pass any judgement on the matter.

I will start with the schools being affected by these changes. There will be a series of schools closing and opening. Of these, there are:

• Johnson (2015) and Butler High School (2016) will both be closing.
• Jemison High School (2016) will be opening.
• Hereford Elementary School will replace University Place Elementary.
• A New (Unnamed, as of now) school will close to replace Morris Elementary and Westlawn Middle School.

However, those are not the only (or even close to) the only students affected. The Majority-to-Minority transfer system will be revised, and more students will likely be moved out of their home-districts as a result of these revisions.

Magnet schools have been a large part of Huntsville's system for a long time, but their usage, number, and role will be raised. AAA, ASFL, Lee's Creative and Performing Arts Program, New Century's Technology Academy, and Columbia's Baccalaureate Program will remain.

However, there will be a new program known as "College Academy" which will begin in 2016 at Jemison High. This academy will let students simultaneously earn a high school diploma, as well as two years of college credits to very specific universities in Alabama. The priority of slots to College Academy will be given to McNair Junior High School students, however, anyone can enroll.

The Law Academy will be discontinued once the class enrolled as of 2016 (the opening of Jemison) has graduated 12th grade. After this, the classes of Law Academy will be come non-magnet extracurricular classes of Jemison High.

Huntsville City Schools will also set up a Pre-K class for every elementary school in the district, to ensure children have a grasp on basic concepts before they begin elementary school.

Huntsville City Schools will set up a Central office administrator to oversee elementary school gifted education programs.

They will set up a more promising and beneficial AP and accelerated mathematical curriculum, as well as implementing new benchmark assessments for said classes.

The school district will also create an entirely new program of "PSTs" or Problem Solving Teams, where students who are at risk of not graduating will be granted assistance through individual strategies, including not suspending students for skipping of being tardy.

There are many, many drastic changes that will be set in place for students in Huntsville City Schools, and I heavily encourage every person involved to either read the entirety of the consent order or (much more reasonably) the summary of said order.

These changes are vital to Huntsville to say the least, and it is important that we understand there are definitely good and bad parts to this order. We must see it as such, and be willing to fix it's issues, embrace its strengths, and focus on what is best for the education of the coming generation of kids.

That's all I have to say today, but I'll be back tomorrow.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." -Nelson Mandela