Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued for Twin Cities metro area

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Seven families whose children attend Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools are suing the state over policies they say have resulted in high concentrations of poor and minority students in urban schools. 

The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that racially segregated schools have caused a gap in achievement between minority and white students. It seeks to force the state to create a metro-wide integration plan, which would include redrawing school district boundaries. 

Attorney Dan Shulman filed a similar suit 20 years ago. However, he says the result of that lawsuit did not fix the problem.

"We now have segregation that is as bad — it's actually worse — than when we started that first case," he said Thursday. "So, we're back to do it again. And this time, we're not going to stop until we have effective desegregation."

State Education Commissioner Brenda Casellius said in a statement that she hasn't seen the lawsuit. But she said the state is committed to helping all students be successful.


Roxxanne O'Brien, a plaintiff in the suit who has two children at Nellie Stone Johnson Community School in Minneapolis, said segregated schools are harmful because they prevent students from getting a truer picture of people from different cultures.  

"What I would really like to see come out of this, not just desegregation, but a conversation," she said, "a real learning moment, a real teaching moment for everyone where we learn how to work with each other and we learn the true history of how we got to this place."

Crime, Law and Justice

Education News

Minnesota News

Twin Cities News

Shows

MPR News with Tom Weber

Tom Weber Feature

All Things Considered

NewsPartners

Brandt Williams

Author

Seven families whose children attend Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools are suing the state over policies they say have resulted in high concentrations of poor and minority students in urban schools.

Suit alleges policies promote Twin Cities school segregation

Seven families whose children attend Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools are suing the state over policies they say have resulted in high concentrations of poor and minority students in urban schools. Tom Weber talks with one of the attorneys representing those families, Dan Shulman, and one of the plaintiffs in the case, Alex Cruz-Guzman.

Suit alleges policies promote Twin Cities school segregation

Go Deeper.

Like this?