ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Desegregation in schools started more than 40 years ago but an Action News Jax investigation reveals eight school districts, including St. Johns County, still have open federal desegregation orders.
Our investigation also uncovered inconsistencies in the way the U.S. Department of Justice handles oversight.
In the 1960s, civil rights activists marched along the streets of St. Augustine.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is shown in photographs joining young protesters in their fight for racial equality in St. Augustine.
Virigal Kelley said he remembers those days vividly.
Kelley grew up in St. Johns County and attended an all-black school.
"We had hand me down books from the white schools,” Kelley said.
The federal government issued desegregation orders to school districts across the country in an effort to put white and black students in the same classrooms.
Action News Jax discovered eight school districts in Florida still have active desegregation orders 45 years after they were first issued.
Those school districts include Pasco County, Flagler County, Bradford County, St. Johns County, Bay County, Jackson County, Gadsden County and Hendry County.
Kelley was stunned when we told him.
"I thought it was over myself,” Kelley said.
We obtained a federal court docket from 1970 that lists a civil rights violation for St. Johns County and many other school districts at the time.
The initial desegregation order for St. Johns County focused on the Webster School which back then was known as Webster Elementary.
"We had all Afro-American teachers,” former Webster Elementary student Teresa Sparrow Baker said.
Sparrow Baker said she was a student at Webster Elementary in 1963 and now her three grandchildren attend the school with fully integrated classrooms.
"It's not the same Webster that I went to,” Sparrow Baker said.
"Having that monitoring by the justice department twice a year keeps us on our toes,” St. Johns County Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Joseph Joyner said.
Joyner said the district has been desegregated for decades.
St. Johns County Schools showed Action News their latest report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice in March, detailing the racial breakdown of students for every class.
Joyner said they haven’t heard received a response from the federal government following that report.
While the numbers show there is diversity in the classrooms, the overwhelming majority of students in the county are white.
Joyner said the only reason the district hasn’t yet asked to close the desegregation order is a lack of resources.
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"It's a large undertaking and in addition to that you certainly have to have legal staff to guide you through the process and so it would involve the whole district,” Joyner said.
Joyner said the district is reviewed twice a year by the U.S. Department of Justice to make sure it’s in compliance but we found not every school district undergoes the same scrutiny by the federal government.
Bradford County Schools said they are reviewed every five years.
Flagler County schools said they have not had any communication with the U.S. Department of Justice at all.
Paso County Schools said they are not monitored at all and said they are considered unitary though they do not technically have unitary status.
Action News Jax asked the U.S. Department of Justice about the inconsistencies in how often it monitors desegregation orders but the agency said in an email they declined to comment.
Sparrow Baker called the lack of federal oversight troubling.
"Whoever is in charge, hey wake up and let's do this like it's supposed to be done,” Sparrow Baker said.
Joyner said St. Johns County is hoping to find the resources needed to close the desegregation order there.
Cox Media Group
