A girl wears a face mask as students sit in a classroom of the Petri primary school in Dortmund, western Germany, on June 15, 2020 amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
New Jersey schools are accused of intentionally failing to address racial imbalance issues. Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy said that he agrees with the plaintiff's arguments.
Lougy confirmed this during the long-anticipated state Superior Court decision on Friday, Oct. 6. The New Jersey judge explained that the state's school system avoided its responsibility to address racial segregation.
New Jersey's Schools Fail to Address Racial Imbalance
According to USA Today's latest report, Robert Lougy agreed with the plaintiffs, which is led by the Latino Action Network and the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
He said that the U.S. state is responsible for correcting de facto segregation in schools. Unfortunately, the judge didn't provide any order or propose a remedy.
Because of this, the ongoing case still doesn't have any winner. This means that the lawsuit filed by the coalition of advocacy groups still needs to have another trial or go into settlement decisions.
Because of this, the plaintiffs and their lawyers are wondering what would be the next step for their lawsuit against New Jersey.
"We will be consulting with our clients and all relevant stakeholders to determine our next steps, whether appeal, trial, or negotiation," said lead attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, via NJ.com.
Although the judge's decision lacks clear steps for the lawsuit, Lustberg is still optimistic regarding the case, saying that the court rejected most of New Jersey's defenses.
He added that a clear path forward for the plaintiffs to obtain remedy for school system's racial imbalance was provided. Lawrence explained that the court agreed with them on two essential arguments.
"One, New Jersey's schools are deeply segregated by race, and two, the state has a constitutional obligation to address this urgent problem," said the lawyer.
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New Jersey School System's Racial Imbalance
Students exit a building between classes at Princeton University on February 4, 2020 in Princeton, New Jersey. The university said over 100 students, faculty, and staff who recently traveled to China must 'self-isolate' themselves for 14 days to contain any possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.
The Latino Action Network and other plaintiffs argued that New Jersey schools have serious racial imbalance among students.
Their lawsuit claims that 60% of Latino students are forced to go to schools with over 80% of non-white students.
Aside from this, they also argued that around 66% of Black students need to attend educational institutions with more than 75% of non-white students.
Plaintiffs said that racial imbalances can be seen in schools in 23 districts and 8 counties in New Jersey, such as the following:
- Passaic: Passaic, Paterson, and Prospect Park Boro
- Hudson: Guttenberg, North Bergen, Union City, and West New York
- Camden: Camden City, Lawnside Boro, and Woodlynne BoroEssex: East Orange, Irvington, Newark, and Orange
- Monmouth: Asbury Park and Red Bank Boro
- Union: Elizabeth, Hillside, Plainfield, and Roselle.Mercer: Trenton
- Middlesex: New Brunswick and Perth Amboy
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