A UCLA professor hired by the Jefferson County Board of Education to review its new student assignment plan is ready to share his findings. Dr. Gary Orfield will address a special board meeting Thursday afternoon.Orfield is co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA and a longtime advisor to JCPS on desegregation matters.The school systerm was forced to come up with a new student assignment plan after its previous plan was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.Elementary schools are now following the new plan, but there have been complaints from parents about school assignments and long bus rides for some children. Implementation of the plan as it applies to middle and high school students was postponed. Orfield was asked to review the new plan and recommend any adjustments. Superintendent Sheldon Berman says he doesn't expect any drastic changes to be suggested. Orfield will present his findings and take questions at 4:00pm Thursday at the VanHoose Education Center on Newburg Road.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.