Dunn Daily Record: 11/18/15
Groups Say School Board Actions Creating Segregated Schools
By TOM WOERNER
Of The Record Staff
A coalition of civil rights leaders and concerned residents announced in a press conference
Tuesday a complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights
against Harnett County Schools.
The conference was within eyesite of the building where the school board has, in what the
coalitions says, voted to “intentionally maintain a racially isolated” student population at Dunn
Middle School.
John Smith Sr., co-chair of the Citizens for Harnett Educational Fairness, or CHEF, spoke on
behalf of his organizationand the North Carolina NAACP on the grounds of the Lillington
Education Complex where the school board meets.
He announced the filing of a federal Title VI complaint. The complaint alleges that the school
system has failed to take action to eliminate unusually high populations of minority students at
Dunn Middle,Wayne Avenue and Harnett Primary schools where passage rates of End-Of-Grade
exams has fallen.
Specifically, at Dunn Middle School, the minority population is 47 percent African-American
and 29 percent white. The total minority population, includingSee Complaint, Page 3
Continued From Page One
Hispanics and any other group, is 69 percent compared to a 44 percent minority population of
school children across the county. The actual population of the county is 33 percent minority.
The action is supported by the state NAACP. Mr. Smith read a statement from state NAACP
President the Rev. Dr. William Barber II.
“The Harnett County Board of Education has chosen to continue to advance a student
reassignment plan that maintains and contributes to racial inequalities within its schools system,”
Rev. Barber said. “African-American students and their families are being injured and we will
not stand for that. The NAACP was formed for the purposes of standing against injustice and
today we endorse and stand in full support of the Title VI claim filed against the Harnett County
School Board of Education.”
Mr. Smith said he hopes the action will result in a more equal education system.
“We are hopeful intervention by the Office of Civil Rights will assist the board in moving
forward to ensure all schools in Harnett County have equal access to educational resources by
implementing an effective student reassignment plan that addresses the racial isolation of
African- American students in Dunn and the poor, and unsafe, utilization of middle schools
facilities,” Mr. Smith said.
Mr. Smith was referring in his comments to the overcrowding situation at Harnett Central
Middle School. Redistricting plans, which were rejected by the Harnett County School Board,
would have reduced the student population at Harnett Central Middle School. The building is
over capacity — having approximately 1,150 students in a building designed for 950 students.
Meanwhile, there are open seats at Coats-Erwin Middle, estimated at 134, and an estimated 246
at Dunn Middle. There is also an estimated 264 open seats at Western Harnett Middle.
Despite being over capacity, the parents of Harnett Central Middle children who have spoken at
forums want their children to stay at Harnett Central Middle.
He noted that on two occasions the board has redistricted schools in the western part of the
county without addressing the situation in the central and eastern parts of the county.
Enlarging Center Middle
Instead of redistricting, the school board voted to look at enlarging Harnett Central Middle
School. That vote was taken without members Ray Bryant or Vivian Bennett voting. Board
Chairman Bill Morris called for a vote and when he, Howard Penny and Chad Smith voted for it,
he announced the measure passed. Mr. Bryant and Mrs. Bennett later said they would have voted
against the construction plan for Harnett Central Middle School if they had been given the
opportunity. This is included in the complaint.
Mr. Smith also noted other factors including the highest teacher turnover rate in the county at
Dunn Middle School at 33 percent.
The complaint also cites a school board vote that prohibited students from transferring out of
Dunn Middle School. Students are now only able to transfer out of Dunn Middle School in
extremehardships. The complaint alleges schools with higher minority populationsoften get less
resources than other schools and have less rigorous college preparation programs.
It seeks remedies for what he called the intentional discriminatory actions.
School Board Chairman Bill Morris referred questions on the complaint to Harnett County
Schools Public Relations
Director Patricia Harmon- Lewis who issued a statement: “We have not officially been given the
information sent out to media outlets,” Mrs. Harmon-Lewis said. “It will be reviewed by
attorneys and it will be addressed at that time.”
There was no one from the school system present at Tuesday’s press conference.
Attorneys for North Carolina Center for Civil Rights are representing the NAACP and CHEF.
The complaint against the schools is a 30-page document plus 22 pages of attached exhibits. The
attached exhibits consist of resolutions of support for redistricting that were passed by both the
City of Dunn and the Dunn Area Chamber of Commerce.
$40,000 On Committee
The proposed plans of a special reassignment committee was also included as an attachment. The
school board rejected the plans after the committee spent many meetings coming up with it. The
school board also spent $40,000 of taxpayer money to pay for the facilitator for the meetings.
There is also a resolution in opposition to the redistricting plan passed by the Dunn School
Advistory Committee. That committee notes that high minority population has been an ongoing
problem in Dunn schools, but that it has gotten worse in the last 10 years. The complaint says the
school system falls under federal regulations because it receives financial resources from the
U.S. Department of Education. For the fiscal year that ended on June 30 of 2014, the school
district received more than $21 million in federal funds.
The complaint asks that the “discriminatory acts” be remedied.
Charles Blue, father of a Harnett Primary third-grader, was one of among close to 100 in
attendance.
“I am worried about the disparity for when my daughter gets to Dunn Middle School and how
she will be ready when she gets to Triton High School,” Mr. Blue said.
“It’s about time,” Dunn Council member Billy Barfield said. “The school board has not done the
job they were supposed to do. The board needs to realize this is a serious thing for our children.
All children need to learn.”
Some others in attendance were Harnett County NAACP President Carolyn McDougal, Dunn
Council member Buddy Maness, Dunn Chamber Vice President Tammy Williams, Harnett
County Board of Elections member Tony Spears and CHER Co-Chair Parrish Daughtry.
“I am worried about the disparity for when my daughter gets to Dunn Middle School and how
she will be ready when she gets to Triton High School.”
— Charles Blue, father of a Harnett Primary third-grader
John Smith Jr., vice chairman of the Citizens for Harnett Education Fairness, announces in
a press conference in Lillington Tuesday afternoon the UNC Center for Civil Rights has
filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights against
Harnett County Schools. The complaint says the school board has avoided chances to
redistrict, in particular the middle schools in the central and eastern part of the county,
resulting in an increasing minority student population in the Dunn schools (Dunn Middle is
at 69 percent) as test scores fall.