In a scathing rebuke to the Huntsville City Schools, a federal court has approved a consent order to address decades-long racial inequalities and desegregate the city’s education system.

U.S. District Judge Madeleine Hughes Haikala of the Northern District of Alabama called the plan a “game-changer” in the effort to finally eliminate the effects of state-mandated racial segregation in Huntsville.

The consent order, which amends the longstanding desegregation order in Hereford v. Huntsville Board of Education, resolves the parties’ dispute over the district’s 2014 plan to redraw student attendance zones.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama approved the consent order after a far-reaching investigation and months of mediation. It will require the district to provide equal educational opportunities to African-American students by revising attendance zones, growing and strengthening magnet programs, and expanding access to quality course offerings.

The consent order also calls for measures to promote faculty and administrator diversity, ensuring that all students are aware of and can equally participate in extracurricular activities, and creating positive, inclusive school climates.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division praised the agreement, saying “This agreement provides for comprehensive remedies that are long overdue for African-American students in Huntsville.”

U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama added, “Our communities and our future are strengthened and improved when parties come together, as they have in this consent order.”

With the consent order in place, the Huntsville City Schools will be forced to act on its promises to provide equal educational opportunities to all students.

Only time will tell if the district will uphold its end of the bargain, but one thing is certain – the students of Huntsville deserve a fair and equitable education, and it’s high time they receive it.

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