Civil rights complaint filed over Philadelphia school closings
Photo: Benjamin Herold/NewsWorks
Theodore Stones speaks to the rally outside School District headquarters Wednesday morning
By Benjamin Herold
for WHYY/NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner
for WHYY/NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner
Seeking a moratorium on dozens of plannedschool closings, community organizing group Action United filed a federal civil rights complaint Wednesday against the School District of Philadelphia.
The eight schools approved for closure last spring serve a disproportionately high percentage of African-American students, resulting in a negative "disparate impact" on the city's African-American communities, argued Action United member Theodore Stones during a Wednesday morning rally outside district headquarters.
As a result, said Stones, the district should halt its stated plan to close several dozen more schools over the next few years.
"The School Reform Commission says that up to 64 more schools will be closedover the next several years...That by itself will be a disaster," said Stones. "If the trend of closing disproportionately African-American schools continues on such a