Connections with Renee Shaw

In a special hour-long edition, Renee talks with people from both sides of the issue about the Jefferson County Schools’ desegregation plan and the potential impact of a Supreme Court decision either upholding or striking down that plan. She also moderates a town hall forum exploring the workings of Louisville’s school desegregation efforts.

The school system operated under a federally mandated desegregation plan from 1975 to 2000. After that decree was lifted, the school system adopted a voluntary plan that continued to use numerical targets to ensure that the racial makeup of schools reflected that of the local population.

The Louisville case and a similar one in Seattle represent the first time the Supreme Court has taken up the issue of public school desegregation in more than a decade.

Note: In June 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down by a 5-4 vote the public school choice plans in Louisville and Seattle, WA, concluding they relied on an unconstitutional use of racial criteria.