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Coalition ends legal fight for desegregation in Pitt County

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The Pitt County Coalition for Educating Black Children announced today that it’s ending litigation over a 2011 school assignment plan it said increased segregation in Pitt County Schools, according to a press release. 

The decision ends a long fight over the “legacy of segregation” in the district.

In 2011, the Pitt County Board of Education initiated a student assignment plan, which the Coalition said increased segregation in the district. In the process, the Board rejected a plan that would increase diversity, according to the Coalition.

The Coalition and others challenged the assignment plan in district court. It ultimately ended up in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court released its decision on June 3 — to uphold a lower court ruling that refused to decide the school assignment plan’s validity and gave Pitt County “unitary status,” the press release stated.

“Unitary Status” is achieved when “[the local school district] has eliminated all vestiges of de jure racial segregation to the extent practicable,” according to the press release.

After reviewing the decision, the Coalition has decided not to pursue the issue further. 

Read the press release