Sheff Movement coalition celebrates 25th Anniversary
of CT’s landmark desegregation case
Sheff “Phase 3” settlement becomes law this month
Saturday, April 26
9:00am-12:30pm
(breakfast at 8:30am)
UConn Law School, Starr Hall
55 Elizabeth St, Hartford, CT
This Saturday, the Sheff Movement coalition will gather parents, students, educators, and community members from across the state and beyond to mark the 25th anniversary of the filing of the landmark civil rights case Sheff vs. O’Neill on April 26, 1989. Participants will celebrate the achievements and continuing expansion of the system of voluntary, two-way school integration that has developed as a result of the Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling in 1996.
The event is free and open to the public, beginning with a breakfast buffet at 8:30am, followed by an interactive program from 9:00am to 12:30pm. Featured panelists include lead plaintiffs Elizabeth Horton Sheff and Milo Sheff, along with civil rights attorneys Dennis Parker and Martha Stone. Musical and theatrical performances will be presented by students from Kinsella Magnet School of the Performing Arts and the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.
The event will also include a Civil Rights History Harvest to record, preserve and share online participants’ videotaped oral histories, scanned photos and other memorabilia. The history harvest is funded by CTHumanities and coordinated by faculty and students from Trinity College.
The Phase 3 settlement, now in effect, establishes a goal of having 44% of Hartford minority students in “reduced isolation settings” in the 2014-15 school year. It increases the number of magnet school seats and seeks to expand the Open Choice program, while allocating funds to strengthen a Hartford neighborhood “lighthouse” school. The nationally-recognized regional system currently includes 45 Sheff magnet schools. Those schools, combined with an Open Choice program that has grown more than 4-fold since the 1996 court ruling, now serve approximately 19,000 students.
In September 2013, the State Department of Education released data showing positive achievement outcomes for Hartford students attending regional magnet schools and the Open Choice program. Negotiations on a Phase 4 settlement are underway and expected to conclude in November 2014.
Key agenda items:
9:20 am Student theatrical performance
9:30 am Civil Rights History Harvest, including an interview with Dennis Parker, director of the national Racial Justice Program of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
10:50 am Panel Discussion: Elizabeth Horton Sheff, Milo Sheff, Martha Stone, Mayra Esquilin, Thomas Connolly and Jim Boucher