Raleigh News & Observer
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/483913.html
“NAACP leader urges diversity in schools”
By Todd Silberman, Staff Writer
The leader of the North Carolina NAACP urged state education officials Thursday to take steps to discourage local school districts from allowing schools to resegregate.
The Rev. William Barber, president of the state conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told the State Board of Education that it can’t meet its constitutional mandate to provide a quality education to all students if schools are sharply divided by race.
“Segregation is a barrier to equal education opportunities,” Barber said. “Segregation is a barrier to a sound basic education.”
Barber noted that nearly all of the state’s 44 lowest-performing high schools have predominantly minority enrollments and cope with numerous educational disadvantages, including fewer fully licensed teachers, fewer teachers with graduate degrees or national certification, and higher rates of teacher turnover.
Thank you,
Action for Children North Carolina