Rankin County School District released from desegregation order

• The district requested removal from the desegregation order in August 2024.

A desegregation order sitting over the Rankin County School District for six decades was lifted earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for North Mississippi. 

The school district had been under the order since 1970 when the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the case, Adams v. Rankin County Board of Education, filed in 1967, with subsequent court orders in 1973 and 1978. 

As a result of those rulings, the school district was given milestones to ensure schools within the district were not discriminating against its black population, in terms of student population numbers and minority representation within school staff and educators. 

The district requested removal from the desegregation order in August 2024, with a court hearing held on the matter in September 2025, where the NAACP argued the district still had more work to do to reach non-discriminatory status.

Tuesday’s order granted the school district’s motion for declaration of unitary status, with the court finding the Rankin County School District has made the moves necessary to meet that status, saying the plaintiff’s arguments were unfounded. 

One of the efforts the court determined as satisfactory focused on actions to ensure equal access to advanced placement courses. 

“In the Court’s view, the record proves the District’s advanced study policies and practices are race-neutral, and the District administers them without regard to race,” the ruling stated. “To remove barriers, the District now permits parents to request their child’s access to accelerated classes even if the student does not initially qualify.”

Additionally, the district has been able to help students overcome the financial barriers to access those courses through a “needs-based fee-waiver program.”

Student assignment policies and employment practices were also found to be non-discriminatory. 

“As required by federal and state law, the District adheres to an Equal Opportunity Employment policy demonstrating its commitment to nondiscriminatory employment practices,” the order noted, adding that after all applications for jobs are received, the district’s human resources department ensures the final list of candidate pool is diverse.

Utilization of various staff recruitment methods were also noted, including social media marketing, career days held on weekends, and partnering with all institutions of higher learning, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to fill positions. 

The order also noted that the racial make-up of the faculty within the district meets diversity standards, with some schools reporting a 50/50 mix of white and black educators. 

“McLaurin Elementary School consistently has a black teacher population that exceeds 30%, and The Learning Center’s faculty hovers around 50% black and 50% white,” the court order stated. 

Overall, the district went from employing 97 black teachers during the 2017-18 school year to 238 today. 

“Its percentage of black teachers is about 15% compared to a national average of roughly 7%,” the order further stated.

The same finding was noted in the district’s administrative positions of principals, assistant principals and other leadership roles. 

“Today across its 28 schools, the District has seven black lead principals and 14 black assistant principals,” the order reads. 

In short, the court found the efforts put forth by the district to ensure fair student and faculty treatment and access have met the desegregation requirements. 

“The standard is whether the District has made ‘every reasonable effort … to eradicate segregation.’ And the district has satisfied that standard,” the order stated.