More Reaction From OPS Breakup Plan

Many, including Mayor Fahey, are blasting the proposal offered by Sens. Chambers and Raikes for being segregationist in nature. They have a point. While I think OPS has gone too far in saying that it's an intentional act of segregation - particularly when Chambers is one of the sponsors of the amendment - this much is true... The plan, as constructed, would essentially isolate the communities. West Omaha, the white district. North Omaha, the black district, and Southeast Omaha, the Hispanic district.

I had a more optimistic tone, yesterday, looking for logic where there was none. The more I read about this plan, I'm baffled. It seems to be the precise opposite of one-city, one-district. It's something that clearly should be overturned by the courts. Kyle sums it up pretty well. They need to slow down, take a deep breath, and not make any rash decisions. That sentiment was shared by Sen. Gail Kopplin of Gretna, a suburban school supporter. Kopplin abstained from the vote on the amendment.

I'm a defender of Ernie Chambers, but I can't figure out where he's coming from on this. Why he would think it more likely for inner-city schools to get funding in this plan. OPS was looking for one-city, one-district. Instead, we have a plan with several cities, more than a dozen districts, and two counties in a so-called "learning community" that seems to only weaken the diversity of existing schools. I remarked yesterday that if a student could indeed go to any school within the community, perhaps that was a step forward. But, after taking a look at the plan in detail, there's very little that improves on the existing system, which I'm not much of a fan of, anyway. This proposal isolates the Hispanic and African-American communities in Omaha, and simply does not address the larger issues.

Perhaps the only thing to come out of this may be that it's such a bad law, the courts have no choice but to overturn it. As it is, though, it seems a rushed attempt at "compromise" that doesn't give much to Omaha's low-income and minority communities at all.

This is three days in a row I've talked about OCOD, and I'll probably continue with it until the end of the session. It will be interesting to see how the final vote shakes out, or if the session will expire before they can reach a resolution.