Attorney Wants Schools to Provide Enrollment Data

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An attorney who won a U.S. Supreme Court case forcing Jefferson County public schools to drop a racial integration plan has filed a motion seeking to force the district to provide data on enrollment and capacities in a handful of schools.
Attorney Teddy Gordon said Friday that some parents whose children were denied transfers are trying to make sure they weren't turned down because of race.
The motion, filed in federal court, seeks grade-level capacity figures at seven schools.
District data provided to The Courier-Journal of Louisville shows all but one were full or overenrolled as of Tuesday. The figures were not broken down by grade.
Attorneys for the school system said they told Gordon before he filed his motion that they would send him overall capacity figures for all schools, and that grade-level data could be obtained by calling the school.
The recent Supreme Court ruling led the school district to drop the use of race in individual assignment decisions, including transfers.
But transfers are not guaranteed. They are considered based on available space and a student's record of attendance, grades and behavior. At this time of year, when most assignments are set, transfer space is scarce, particularly in more popular schools, officials said.
Student-assignment director Pat Todd said capacity figures should be viewed with caution, since they change daily as students move around near the start of the year, and may include inaccuracies because the district is implementing a new computer software system to track student data.
District lawyer Frank Mellen said he planned to file a response to Gordon's motion in the coming days.