Since the district's inception, the two high schools, Henderson East and West, have been divided. Respectively one high school is Black and Latino, and the other, mostly White. The district's administration has come under fire from the community in the last five years as test scores, particularly SAT results, have increasingly diverged, with East's scores down by 10%, while West's have improved by 8.5%. The test scores served as a catalyst, and a battle erupted.

Pressures in the community have led strong neighborhood groups in the Latino and Black communities to come together, alleging discriminatory practices on the part of the school system. These community groups state that long-standing school policies have resulted in unequal opportunities. The school administration has attempted to resolve these difficulties, instituting a number of initiatives, including school choice. However, the groups continued to attend separate schools, resulting in continued racial and ethnic isolation within this urban school district. As a result of years of debate and failed attempts toward resolving the problem, a court-ordered mandate to remedy the segregation was handed down last winter. Starting this fall, the terms of the desegregation mandate require that an evenly distributed student population from all three ethnic communities attend Henderson East and Henderson West.

Two newly revitalized high school facilities, East and West, will open in the Fall of 1998. In order to successfully comply with the court's mandate, Dr. Carter, Henderson's newly hired district superintendent, has some difficult tasks to undertake and complete over the summer. While moderating community teacher/union reaction she also has to:

1. co-mingle the teaching staffs of the two high schools while moving the 70% white teacher population toward eventual parity with the mandated student population distribution. This will mean that some long-tenured White teachers who cannot speak Spanish will have to be let go, and new, better qualified multi-lingual teachers hired;

2. investigate rumors, and develope a possible counter-strategy to keep parents on all sides of the debate, Latino, White and Black, from fleeing their neighborhoods. It appears that White parents are threatening to send their children to a White neighboring school system and pay the difference to do so. On the other hand, Black and Latino parents are threatening to keep their children from being bused to West. If this occurs, Dr. Carter will never be able to effectively meet the quotas imposed by the court; and,
3. monitor community reactions and diffuse the increasing emotion. Several parents from both sides have threatened to bring in the media if their children are chosen to be bused to the other school.

Dr. Carter's first decision was to issue a memo to the two principals giving them one month to develop a list of teachers and students who will be transferring buildings next Fall. Their task is to work together to develop this list, keeping in mind the need to diffuse the conflict arising in both communities. Dr. Carter has made it clear that this is their responsibility and that their jobs depend on its success.

To make matters worse, teacher animosity has developed between the East and West staffs as a result of the desegregation issues. Over 70% of the existing teacher population is White, and of them, only 5% speak Spanish well enough to make the cut and join Dr. Carter's new staff. Teachers are resisting the new curricular mandates. Since a number of East students are not up to par with West students, Dr. Carter has asked the staffs at both high schools to work throughout the summer in order to develop and implement a new bilingual curriculum based on an enrichment model (the superintendent suggests that this program will enable East and West transfer students to succeed in their new academic environments). Most of the teachers are refusing to participate, even though they will be paid handsomely, because they know some West faculty will be released before the summer is over. They are standing by their peers in solidarity and have a union mandate boycotting all summer transitional activities.

Lastly, two strong parent groups have emerged. One White (West HS) and the other Latino and Black (East HS), who are aggressively planning to flee the district in favor of other ethnically segregated schools in neighboring communities. Henderson West parents have threatened to transfer their children to other private or neighboring schools if their sons or daughters are selected to attend East. They are concerned that their children will no longer be accepted into the elite East Coast liberal arts colleges, which have historically recruited students from West. They believe the reputation of West will be severely damaged, if children with low test scores bused into the school.

On the other hand, Henderson East parents are concerned that West will only admit students that are academically advanced (those that will continue their existing level of success in college entrance exams). They are also concerned for the safety of their children. They do not want them exposed to a hostile environment at West, where they are not wanted or accepted. The Henderson East parents believe the self-esteem of their children is more important than an integrated school system. Furthermore, they feel their own children are already being discriminated against by the district, so it doesn't matter which school they attend. They are pointing their fingers at a racist administration, P.T.A., and school board. Several minority teachers have sided with them and together they are planning to seek legal action. To make matters more complicated, many Latino parents are advocating totally segregated schools in order to promote and preserve their rich culture and language. They want bilingual programs to be provided for their children and are adomantly resisting splitting up their community.

1. Can Dr. Carter and the two principals keep students from fleeing East and West?
2. What criteria will the two principals use to transfer teachers and students?
3. Can they find a way to keep teachers in their jobs and implement a new, diverse and multi-lingual curriculum?
4. Will East and West open this fall without a teacher strike?