Segregated Schools Analysis Proposed By Loudoun County Supervisor

Ashburn VA

17 September, 2021

10:33 AM

Description

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — The lasting harm and affect of segregated schools in Loudoun County would be the focus of a joint study by the school board and the board of supervisors under a proposal by Supervisor Juli Briskman. The joint committee would also make recommendations in an effort to rectify the past disparities, including possible compensation for those harmed by a system that gave substantially less money to Black schools vs. those attended by white students. Loudoun County was one of the last school districts in the nation to desegregate in 1968, 14 years after integration was mandated by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. In September 2020, the board of supervisors joined the school board in a joint statement of apology for the segregation of schools. The apology noted the "negative impact, damage and disadvantages to Black students and families that were caused by decisions made by the Loudoun County School Board, Loudoun County Public Schools Administration, and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors." Still, Briskman, who represents the Algonkian district, believes an apology was not enough. "Words are great, but I think that we could do a little more toward the healing process," she said. In 1956, two years after the Supreme Court mandated the integration of schools, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of an amendment to the state's constitution to allow public money to be used for private schools. The amendment was designed to support white students who went to private schools to avoid integration, according to Briskman's board member initiative. Primary sources collected by the Edwin Washington Project show students at the Bull Run Colored School had to bring their own coal to school to heat their classrooms, since coal wasn't provided by the school system. Male students also had to bring buckets of water from a nearby stream, since the school system didn't provide plumbing or drinking water. "It is painfully clear that previous boards sought to undermine and deliberately underfund the education of Black students in Loudoun County and these are the types of measures that set back our brothers and sisters for generations," Briskman said. According to national data from the Brookings Institution, white families are, on average, 10 times wealthier than Black families. "Racial disparities are not the result of moral failings or lack of intellect, but fall squarely in the domain of systemic racism, which was perpetrated by our boards." The proposed motion is planned to be presented to the board at a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 21. The current initiative does not involve any allocated money, though Briskman said there is the potential for compensation to those who were affected. Any recommendations based on the analysis would be made in cooperation with Loudoun's Black community, according to the initiative. "Rectifying these disparities is a moral imperative. It is my hope these discussions will lead to mitigation of these egregious harms, at least on the local level, and potentially set an example as to how our nation could respond," Briskman said. "We need to have these conversations in order to heal our county, our state, and our country."