Virginia judge delays school integration request - parental plea to postpone integration of elementary schools in Richmond, Virginia - Brief Article

Jet, March 8, 1993

A Richmond, Va., judge granted a request by 12 parents to delay integration of classes at an elementary school where pupils had been grouped by race for at least seven years.

Judge T.J. Markow of the Richmond Circuit Court ruled that the school board had not required a public hearing before ordering 74 of the 452 students at Bellevue Model Elementary School to restructure classes.

Clarence L. Townes, Jr., the school board chairman, said the board would hold the hearing. However, he added the board could stand by its decision.

The 12-member parents coalition indicated they may go back to court if the board went ahead with the move.

The case arose last December when a Black parent criticized Bellevue's policy of "clustering" in which White students who made up 12 percent of the school's population, were put in a few classrooms, leaving other classes with Black students.