Louisiana Tech Fails to Desegregate School, Settles with Feds

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has reached a settlement agreement with Louisiana Tech University to ensure that black students have access to the high-quality education programs at the A.E. Phillips Laboratory School. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana today approved the court-ordered agreement, which will reduce barriers to enrollment for black students and further desegregate A.E. Phillips’ faculty, staff and facilities.

A.E. Phillips, which opened in approximately 1910 as a segregated school serving only white students, was first ordered to desegregate in 1984. Following an investigation, the Justice Department concluded, and Louisiana Tech agreed, that more work is needed to open up A.E. Phillips’ quality educational program to all students of Lincoln Parish.

As a laboratory school, A.E. Phillips is known for its strong academic programs and teaching, and serves as a resource for Louisiana Tech’s College of Education to train future teachers and apply innovative education techniques.

The University of Louisiana System, the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Louisiana State Superintendent of Education are also parties to the settlement agreement. Under the consent order, Louisiana Tech and A.E. Phillips will do the following:

increase the percentage of black student enrollment so that the percentage of black students enrolled at A.E. Phillips reflects the percentage of black students in grades K-8 enrolled in Lincoln Parish School Board’s schools by the 2020 through 2021 school year;

take steps to expand A.E. Phillips’ existing facilities to two classrooms per grade level to accommodate additional black student enrollment;

develop a comprehensive plan to recruit black students for incoming kindergarten classes and for available vacancies in other grade levels;

offer full and partial tuition scholarships to admitted black students who are eligible for free and reduced price student meals under the federal guidelines;

offer free and reduced price meals to admitted black students who meet the federal requirements for assistance; and

take affirmative measures to recruit black candidates for administrator, teacher, certified staff and other staff vacancies at the school.

‘We commend the Louisiana Tech community for its firm commitment to make the promise of equal access to education a reality for all children, regardless of the color of their skin,’ said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. ‘Our consent order establishes long overdue protections critical to increasing the enrollment of – and support for – black students at A.E. Phillips.’