Parents beat back Rahm's re-segregation at LaSalle Academy

LaSalle Language Academy

When Arne Duncan was Chicago schools CEO, one of his first goals was to eliminate the city's court ordered desegregation plan. The fight was carried on under Mayor Daley's regime by Duncan's successor, Ron Huberman, who finally got a federal judge to liquidate the consent decree. Rahm Emanuel's attempt to carry on Duncan's tradition and re-segregate one of the city's few remaining integrated magnet schools has been beaten back by protesting parents.

Emanuel tried to phase out LaSalle Language Academy Magnet School, where 1,500 kids apply for about 70 open seats every year. According to a WBEZ report, " it also would have turned one of the city’s few integrated schools into a majority white school by closing the door on students from other neighborhoods. And parents feared their school’s unique language programs—run with desegregation funds—would be lost."

Late Tuesday, schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard sent letters to parents  saying the proposal is off the table.