Federal lawyers claim that one of Bertie County’s six elementary schools has too many white kids and they want the county school board to devise a plan to fix the situation by Dec.31. A closer look at the situation reveals federal efforts to eliminate the “vestiges of discrimination” are extreme.

The lawyers are from the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. They say the Bertie County School Board has not fully complied with a 1968 court order to desegregate the school system.

Bertie County, located in northeastern North Carolina, has a population of about 20,000. Thirty-six percent of those are white. It has a public school system made up of 10 schools — six elementary, two middle schools, one high school, and one alternative school. Like many other Southern school systems, Bertie once maintained separate facilities for black students and white students. In response to the 1968 order, the county took steps to remedy the discrimination. Federal officials have monitored the situation ever since, but they still think that racial mischief is occurring.

The specific problem mentioned in the ongoing case is Askewville Elementary. The racial makeup of the 136 students is 86 white students, 41 black students, and nine of other classification. For the feds, there are too many white kids in one building. They don’t care if Askewville Elementary is mostly white, because mostly whites have settled in the town of Askewville.

Even though the Askewville Elementary white kids outnumber blacks 2-1, by the time they reach one of the two middle schools or the one high school in the county, their strength is fully diluted. That’s not good enough for the feds.

The federal lawyers have to rely on a federal judge to monitor compliance with the court order. In this case the job belongs to Judge Terrence W. Boyle, and he remains disatisfied with the school system’s desegregation efforts. In April 2003 Boyle ruled that the school system “continued to operate a racially identifiable white elementary school.”

The only plan being discussed to remedy the situation is to close Askewville Elementary and two other elementary schools and rearrange the children to attend three remaining schools. New attendance lines will be drawn to spread the white children around.

A Nov. 30 public hearing at the Bertie County Superior Courtroom on the issue drew a standing-room only crowd. The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald reported that several people spoke against the plan and the intrusion by the feds. No one spoke for the plan other than Michael Crowell, legal counsel for the Bertie County Board of Education. He was the one who worked out the proposed plan with federal officials.

But forget the school system for a moment and let’s take a look at some other black and white numbers for Bertie County. Five of seven Askewville Elementary teachers are black. The Askewville Elementary principal is black. The school system superintendent is black. Eight of 10 Bertie school principles are Black. Blacks make up a majority of the Bertie County School Board. Blacks make up a majority of the Bertie County Commission. Bertie belongs in the 1st U.S. Congressional District, the 5th State House District, and the 3rd State Senate District. All three areas were drawn to elect black representatives and black Democrats have consistently won those offices.

According to my sources, after the public hearing the school board realized that the public strongly objected to the federal intrusion. The board may decide to do nothing and force the feds’ hand. I hope it does so more people will see how absurd this situation has become. Closing Askewville Elementary will not improve educational outcomes for any Bertie students.

Don Carrington is associate publisher of Carolina Journal.