Save Clay, Inc. files petition in ongoing fight to keep the school open
UPDATE: In October 2023, a judge denied Save Clay's effort at re-opening the 1980s lawsuit, saying that the South Bend Community School Corporation has not violated the ruling because it has yet to show how students will be divided amongst the schools.
ORIGINAL STORY:
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The nonprofit Save Clay, Inc. and others filed a petition to intervene in the South Bend Community School Corporation's long-running federal desegregation case in response to the board of trustees’ decision to close Clay High School.
Trustees voted to close Clay, after the 2024-2025 school year, back in April as part of the Facilities Master Plan.
But the petitioners argue the school corporation voted to close the high school without having a proper plan in place for where Clay students will go next.
They also claim the closure amounts to discrimination against students by the South Bend Community School Corporation (page 1).
Petitioners include SBCSC board of trustees’ members Mark Costello and Jeanette McCullough, who both voted against the closure, Save Clay, Inc. and the mother of a current Clay student, who says her daughter has been and will be negatively impacted by the closure.
The petition claims the decision to close the school violates United States v. South Bend Community School Corp., the desegregation case from the 1980s. Plaintiffs in that case stated the corporation, trustees and superintendent at the time were discriminating against students and faculty on the basis of race.
The case concluded with a federal Consent Decree, which required SBCSC come up with a desegregation plan for students that included, “if the closing of any schools is necessary for purposes of integration, such closings shall be designed so that all racial groups share as equally as possible,” (page 5).
That consent decree remains in effect to this day.
Plaintiffs say the school corporation has not given the public a proper plan for Clay’s closing, nor have parents been given enough time to find suitable school alternatives for their students (page 10).
According to the petition, the SBCSC planned to give the school board a formal proposal on where Clay students would be transferred in late March, but none has been given to board members or the public (page 11) at this time.
ABC57News reached out to the school corporation for comment on the petition but have not yet received a reply.
Read the full petition below: