RALEIGH -- The Wayne County public school system has deliberately segregated schools, putting black students at a disadvantage and creating "a district of apartheid education," the NAACP said in a federal complaint filed Tuesday.
The complaint accuses the school system of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which makes it illegal to distribute federal funds with racial discrimination.
The Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president, cited policies that he says have resulted in lower graduation rates and higher suspension rates. Of 2,100 students enrolled in the Central Attendance District in Goldsboro, four are white. Barber said 94 percent of those students receive free or reduced school lunches - a sign of poverty - and more than 50percent never graduate.
