BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio education officials say the NAACP moved too quickly in trying to reopen a 24-year-old desegregation lawsuit against Cincinnati Public Schools. But NAACP leaders say the district will not implement reforms unless prodded by the federal courts.
In papers filed in U.S. District Court in Dayton, Ohio, last week and Tuesday, attorneys representing both sides argued about whether Mona Bronson vs. the Board of Education of Cincinnati -- originally filed in 1974 -- should be reopened.
Assistant Attorney General Roger F. Carroll said CPS officials already are implementing some reforms the Cincinnati branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sought to raise student achievement.
He also argued that NAACP leaders have not given the district enough time to comply.
But a lawyer representing the NAACP said the district's reforms have been a "slapdash effort" arising from the NAACP's pressure. William L. Taylor also questioned a state assessment of the district's efforts to improve achievement, saying state assessors criticized those efforts but did not recommend reforms. In his 19-page filing, Mr. Taylor listed more than a dozen examples of how the district has not committed to improving student achievement. Judge Walter Herbert Rice scheduled a telephone hearing for Friday.
The case was settled in 1984 and amended several times, most recently in 1994.
NAACP leaders say plummeting test scores and high expulsion rates prove the district's lack of commitment to the desegregation settlement. District and state officials also have rebuffed NAACP leaders' efforts to monitor the desegregation process.
