Settlement marks second Louisiana desegregation mandate Murrill has helped lift
The agreement ends a case that has governed the district’s operations for more than six decades. The settlement was announced in Bossier City, Louisiana, as the school year began for students in the parish near Shreveport.
Rowland, the district’s superintendent, said in a statement that the dismissal would give the school system latitude to govern independently while acknowledging the case’s long history.
“Dismissal of the case allows us the freedom to make our own decisions that are in the best interest of all students, staff and our community, while keeping in mind the history of the past 61 years,” Rowland said.
Murrill, Louisiana’s attorney general, announced the settlement and said on social media that the cases had outlived their usefulness.
“It’s long past time for these old consent decrees to come to an end. These decades-old cases are expensive, ineffective, and they take power away from local communities,” Murrill said.
The Bossier Parish settlement follows a similar action last month, when Murrill announced she had helped lift a desegregation mandate for the Concordia Parish School Board, a rural district along the Mississippi River.