Educators, Parents and Activists Attend Conference to Improve and Celebrate Racially Integrated, Innovative Public Schools in Hartford, CT

HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 200 educators, civil rights activists and scholars gathered for a conference in Hartford Connecticut last weekend to visit nationally heralded, racially integrated magnet schools and to develop strategies to enable more children to attend high-quality, diverse public schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.

The Hartford region is home to some of the nation's most highly regarded and most innovative magnet schools. The more than three dozen schools, with curricular themes ranging from International Studies to Math and Science to Theater Arts, attract racially, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse enrollments by attracting students from dozens of urban and suburban communities in the region.

The magnet schools were created as a remedy in the landmark Sheff v. O'Neill court decision, in which Connecticut's highest court declared that the segregation in the region deprived students of the equal educational opportunity guaranteed in the state Constitution.

The 2-day interactive conference, Where Integration Meets Innovation, drew on this local success to offer more than 20 workshop sessions designed to assist attendees who want to create magnets or other racially integrated programs in their communities or who want to make diverse schools more effective, equitable and engaging. Attendees also broke into smaller groups to attend sessions that explored policy options and advocacy opportunities in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.

"What's been built and nurtured here in Hartford is an inspiration to the rest of the nation. It shows what is possible," said Susan Eaton, co-director of the Harvard-based project, One Nation Indivisible, which organized the conference in collaboration with the local grassroots network, The Sheff Movement coalition. "This conference will help energize a movement. People went away with information and knowledge and with new alliances and connections that will push us forward."

Furthermore, attorney John C. Brittain, said, "The convening of parents, school teachers and administrators, scholars, civil rights lawyers and education advocates to observe dynamic magnet schools that represent the achievement fruits of the landmark school integration law suit, Sheff v. O'Neill, was a living testament to nearly a twenty-five year campaign to promote the benefits of school diversity in the greater Hartford region."  

Sheff movement member Elizabeth Horton Sheff, the lead plaintiff in the legal case that bears her name, stressed the need to both further expand opportunities for more students to attend integrated schools, to share lessons learned with advocates in other states and to stop and celebrate successes.  "I always keep in mind that segregation was created by people. And that doesn't make me depressed," Horton Sheff said. "It reminds me that it can be undone by people."

One Nation Indivisible tells and spreads stories about integration efforts across the country and connects, organizes and mobilizes integrationists across the United States. The Sheff Movement coalition is a grassroots network of educators, parents, students and concerned residents who support expansion of quality integrated regional public education in Greater Hartford. Conference funders include The Ford Foundation, The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, the Rauch Foundation, the Nellie Mae Foundation and the Schott Foundation for Public Education.  

(For more information visit www.onenationindivisible.org [email protected] and www.sheffmovement.org.)

Contact:
Susan Eaton, 617-216-6388
John Humphries - 860-216-7972

SOURCE One Nation Indivisible