Several days before Dr. Berman began his role as superintendent of the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in Louisville, Kentucky, the U. S. Supreme Court in Parents Involved (2007) ruled that JCPS’s student assignment plan was unconstitutional. However, Justice Anthony Kennedy provided a critical opinion in the case that opened the possibility for maintaining an integrated school system.
Declaring that the district would not retreat from its commitment to integrated schools, Dr. Berman issued a district statement to the community that the district would continue to pursue, in whatever way possible, plans to maintain a student assignment plan that would sustain integration. For the next year, Dr. Berman worked with demographers, attorneys, district leaders, and university consultants to develop a plan based on the demographics of regions in Jefferson County in terms of race, income, and other factors. Put into effect in 2008, the plan enabled parent choice among an enhanced set of magnet schools and programs as well as a controlled busing system. The plan not only maintained the integration of JCPS’s schools but enhanced the level of integration. Daniel Kiel, writing in the Fordham Law Review, suggested that JCPS’s plan could serve as a model for integration across the nation.
Throughout his career, Dr. Berman has continued to be an advocate for equity, inclusion, and integration and to support strategies for the success of marginalized groups.
LTR-TO-PRESIDENT-STUDENT-ASSIGNMENTThe Call to Courage: Standing Up and Speaking Out Against the Assaults on Democracy, Educators, and Students in America’s Schools (with Luvelle Brown). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2024.
Three proven ways to develop inclusive mindsets. School Administrator, Vol. 81, No. 6, June 2024.
A path to equity paved by social-emotional learning. School Administrator, Vol. 78, No. 7, August 2021.
Equity: At the heart of social-emotional learning. AC&E–Access, Compliance & Equity in Education, online journal of the American Consortium for Equity in Education, March/April, 2020.
The resegregation of America’s public schools. School Administrator, Vol. 70, No. 11, December 2013.
Commitment to equity unbowed. The Ole Landmark: Newsletter from the Greater Louisville Alliance of Black Educators, Vol. 10, no. 3, Fall 2007.
Kiel, D. (2010). Accepting Justice Kennedy’s dare: The future of integration in a post-PICS world. Fordham Law Review, 78(6), 2873-2917. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144228899.pdf
Jefferson County Public Schools. (2008). No retreat: JCPS commitment to school desegregation. [Out of print].
