Department of Justice and Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District representatives are asking a judge for more time to negotiate a long-term desegregation order.
A Friday filing shows both sides asked federal Judge Michael P. Mills to move today’s deadline for the report to March 4.
Both DOJ and SOCSD officials are “optimistic they will come to agreement” on terms, but the filing does not state why each side asked for additional time.
If both sides are unable to reach an agreement by early March, then each “will submit proposed orders that reflect areas in which agreement was reached” and separate proposals for the remaining desegregation obligations, the filing states.
Mills approved a short-term desegregation order in July after SOCSD and DOJ officials struck a temporary agreement on a number of guidelines.
That agreement solidified proposed school attendance zones and stated future site selections for new school construction or the consolidation of campuses “shall be done in a manner which will prevent the recurrence of the dual school structure.”
It also created a bi-racial committee of eight delegates – four white and four black members selected by the seven campuses’ parent-teacher organizations and the school board – to “render counsel to the district on the desegregation plan.”
SOCSD was tasked with filing a permanent desegregation report this winter, while subsequent reports would be offered to the DOJ on or before June 30 of each year.
Those reports will include a plethora of race-based data, including the total number and percentage of students, teachers and other employees assigned to each campus, grade level and classroom.
Since the temporary order was approved, DOJ officials interviewed district and school administrators and evaluated certain facilities in December and January.
From Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, both sides engaged in negotiations on a new deal and would go on to exchange drafts of their proposals.
The DOJ previously objected to operating East Oktibbeha County Elementary School with an expected 94 percent African-American enrollment – the same percentage operated by the former Oktibbeha County School District – and separating former county and city school district sixth graders at different campuses.
To solve the sixth-grade issue, school leaders increased capacity at Armstrong Middle School with mobile classrooms.
A proposed grades 6-7 partnership school with Mississippi State University would educate all countywide students once built.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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