JCPS Board of Education Approves Assignment Plan

The Jefferson County Board of Education has unanimously approved a new student assignment plan for the district. The changes came nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that its previous plan was unconstitutional.The district’s 30-year-old desegregation policy was overturned by the high court last June because it sometimes assigned students to schools based solely on their race. The new plan will assign elementary students according to three criteria: race, neighborhood education levels and household income.Assignment Director Pat Todd says it’s a solid, but flexible plan."The fact that we monitor these demographic changes and trends is what keeps us appropriate for the long term as well as the short term. We believe we’ve done a thorough analysis, and that there would not be significant changes in geographic areas a and b anytime in the near future," she said.The plan goes into effect in the fall of 2009. Students already in school will not be affected.More on the new assignment plan.