Rankin County, MS schools released from federal desegregation order

This is a very interesting story to follow.

Conservative Story: LINK

Liberal Story: LINK

Facts

A desegregation order sitting over the Rankin County School District for six decades was lifted earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for North Mississippi.

Overall, the district went from employing 97 black teachers during the 2017-18 school year to 238 today.

“Its percentage of black teachers is about 15% compared to a national average of roughly 7%,

Emotions


McLaurin, along with six Black Rankin County schools alumni who spoke to Mississippi Today, believe the decision was premature.

“Rankin County schools just took a step backwards,” she said.

In the 2022-23 school year, 24 white students transferred to Pisgah High School. Three of the students came from Brandon and Flowood, where Black enrollment has increased, according to an analysis by education equity researcher Erica Frankenberg, who was an expert witness for the plaintiffs.

Local Note: Pisgah is a growing area where there is a lot of land and big houses are being built. It is a 2A school.

Ma’Kesha Adams, a former Rankin County School District employee and daughter of Kenneth Adams, lead plaintiff of the lawsuit, said she was put on an improvement plan after a white student accused her of racism.

Local Note: Ms. Adams, a middle school principal, was found to have been favorable toward black students, but not fired, and even offered a higher position at another school.

Jeuan Brown, who attended McLaurin Elementary in the early 2000s, said he felt the brunt of policies that attorneys say disproportionately impacted Black students.

“I would get punished and I didn’t do it, and nobody believed me,” he recalled of his time at McLaurin Elementary.

Black students, who comprised 25.7% of the enrollment in 2023-24 in Rankin County schools, were suspended twice as much as white students.

Is it possible that they commit twice the suspendable offenses?


For Tagira Bush, being Black on the cheer squad at Northwest Rankin High School was isolating, she testified at the September hearing. The squad’s participation fees were too steep for her mother, and district staff would not grant a waiver. Bush said she felt they didn’t care.

Being a cheerleader at a 7A school that is highly competitive costs money. Northwest Rankin has won numerous state cheerleading championships and even a national championship in 2024. The fees for cheerleading are reported to be around $1000-$1200.

Black parents in the county schools said they worry now that the court isn’t watching out for their children. “We don’t have any major issues right now,” Moore told Mississippi Today. “It’s just scary what the possibility can be now for all kids.”

Interesting.