On May 6, ELC and the New Jersey Conference of the NAACP filed a "friend of the court" brief before the State Board of Education in the ongoing Englewood Cliffs v. Englewood school desegregation case. The brief is the latest filing in the 20-year old lawsuit, which involves the Boards of Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, and Tenafly.

An earlier court order in the case required Englewood and the NJ Department of Education to develop a voluntary plan to integrate the Dwight Morrow High School (DMHS). In response to this order, the Englewood district, backed by the NJDOE, designed a separate magnet school called the Academies @ Englewood. However, three years after the advent of the Academies -- described by the district as a "school-within-a-school" -- the general student body at DMHS remains 97% Black and Hispanic.

The brief by ELC and NJ NAACP ("amici") addresses an emergent application by Englewood seeking $6 million for the Academies program as currently in place. Amici argue that the State Board is responsible for implementing an effective integration plan for the district, and should reject Englewood’s request for state funding of the current program on the basis that the Academies has failed to integrate DMHS and has, in fact, exacerbated the problem of segregation in important respects. Amici also argue that any additional state funding must be conditioned on the development of a revised integration plan that will be effective in addressing the persistent racial segregation at DMHS and throughout the district.

The amici brief also points out that Englewood ignores important data contained in periodic reports prepared by the Commissioner evaluating the effectiveness of the Academies approach. This data forcefully rebuts Englewood’s assertion that the Academies has achieved the ‘intended effect,’ and militates against the State Board granting additional funds without requiring the district to develop a new integration plan.

In his latest report, the Commissioner proposes substantial changes to the current plan and pledges to work with the district to develop and implement other innovative programs to address long-standing racial segregation in the district. The amici agree wholeheartedly with the Commissioner’s proposition that the existing Academies approach must be transformed, and other integration plans explored, in order to address persistent racial isolation at DMHS and in the district at large.

"To accord with the Supreme Court’s mandate, we believe that action must be swift, and that transformation must begin to occur before the beginning of the new school year," stated Koren Bell, ELC staff attorney. "To this end, we at ELC are prepared to work with anyone who is interested in developing a new integration plan for the district."

Prepared: May 10, 2005