Sheff V. O’Neill Plaintiffs Return In Court

NEW BRITAIN (AP) — A judge is weighing complaints that the state has breached a settlement in a landmark school desegregation case because it has lagged in enrolling students in new Hartford magnet schools.

Plaintiffs in Sheff vs O’Neill lawsuit to desegregate Hartford’s schools returned to court Monday to argue their contentions before Judge A. Susan Peck. She did not make a decision but indicated she is leaning toward the state.

“Based on what I have before me, I can’t find that the state is in breach of this agreement,” Judge Peck said.

The settlement in January 2003 requires the state to open two interdistrict magnet schools in Hartford of 600 students each year for four years. The plaintiffs argued the state must fill those schools as they come on line and that it is far behind.

The city and state have been adding grades gradually. They said they need time to build the culture of the magnet schools.

Magnet schools offer specialized programs designed to draw students from both suburbs and cities.

The state Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that racial, ethnic, and economic isolation in Hartford schools was unconstitutional. The original case was brought in 1989 on behalf of Milo Sheff, a 10-year-old student in Hartford’s Annie Fisher School.

The settlement required Hartford to open two new racially integrated magnet schools a year for four years.