On October 30, 2003, a Director’s Memo, DIR-04-020, was sent out to all superintendents and co-op directors, concerning information requested by the General Assembly’s Desegregation Litigation Oversight Committee. In order to properly respond to the legislative committee’s request, it is imperative the Attorney’s Office have a response from all school districts. To date, only 72 school districts have responded to the first request for information. The remaining school districts who do not respond by Friday, December 5, 2003, may be named as non-reporting in the upcoming report to the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Committee. To avoid this, submit in writing to Scott Smith, Arkansas Department of Education, Attorney’s Office, #4 Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201, answers to the following questions:
1. What involvement, if any, does the local school district have in a desegregation lawsuit (i.e., does the court still have jurisdiction of the case or has the case been closed)?
2. If the school district is involved in a desegregation lawsuit, what action, if any, is the school district being required to do by the court (i.e., file reports, monitoring duties, etc.)?
3. What deadline(s) has/have the court imposed upon the school district to perform required actions or submit information to it?
For the purpose of answering the above questions, the term “involved in a lawsuit” means that the school district is subject to the jurisdiction of a U. S. District of Appellate Court in a desegregation lawsuit in which the school district is a/the defendant. In other words, the school district is not currently “involved in lawsuit” if all desegregation lawsuits that have been filed against the district have been dismissed or the district has been released from court supervision or has been declared in “unitary status.” The school district is still “involved in a lawsuit” if any desegregation lawsuit against the district is still pending or if the district is still under a court order, even if the district has not been required to submit information to the court for quite some time.
For questions or additional information, contact Mr. Scott Smith at 501-682-4227.