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Civil rights leaders and residents said it fueled rumors that board members were trying to work around desegregation laws.

Walthall county school officials were very tight lipped about the special call meeting.

WLBT did learn that they had been in discussions with the U.S. Justice Department but was not  told much more.

School board members met for five minutes before going into executive session.

District officials did not say what would be discussed.

County NAACP president Clennel Brown said the news circulating in Tylertown was that the board was meeting secretly to work out a plan to continue school transfers despite U.S. Justice Department recommendations.

“If everyone would go to the school district which they're supposed to go at, all this wouldn't happen. We have clustering in schools. In a classroom you have a black teacher with all black children. In a white teacher you see all white, maybe two or three blacks in order to justify it,” said Brown.  

In late July the board approved transferring 250 white students and 50 black students from the predominately black Tylertown High School to the majority white Salem Attendance Center.

Walthall school board rejects Justice Dept. recommendations

A group of parents that sued Metro over its new school-rezoning plan provided a list of the outstanding textbook orders Tuesday. The families argue that the new school zoning policy unfairly puts black students at a disadvantage. Books are a key part of their argument. They say that predominantly black schools are not receiving adequate resources.

School officials say the number, 68 schools with unfilled orders in a system of 139, shows that the book issue is not a symptom of racism in its new rezoning plan, but rather proof that book shortages at the beginning of school years are routine.

System attorney Kevin Klein said the district orders books from three separate publishers. If books are backordered, he said, the system's hands are tied.

“This is a districtwide issue” not related to race, Klein said.

About half of Nashville schools short of books

Stubbornly, there is continued insistence there are no problems at under serviced, under funded, under resourced crumbling schools and everyone seem happy to transfer blame on the parents and students.

It is easy to blame the schools for the decisions of these children to drop out, but where is the personal responsibility that the president spoke about today? That's an important factor in the equation, besides the social problems.

Nearly 90 percent had passing grades when they left school, according to the survey of dropouts by Civic Enterprises.

Their major reason for opting out? The classes were too boring.

John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises and one of the authors of the survey said, “We've gone in and talked face to face with kids who have dropped out of school. What they're telling us debunks popular assumptions. The problem is solvable.”

Russell Rumberger, an education professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara who, like Mr. Bridgeland, emphasizes that the reasons kids leave school:l

•  Are complex and not always focused on academics

•  While some drop out because they're too far behind, others are more worried about pregnancy, family issues, or dating trouble</span>

•  “Any solution needs to be focused on the whole child“

Dr. Losen wants to see:

•  Major emphasis on getting better teachers into schools

•  A personalization of high school

•  Helping kids feel engaged and part of a community – can be a big factor in keeping them in school

•  Draconian discipline, on the other hand, such as suspending kids for dress code violations or truancy, can force them out

Recommendations from studies includes:

•  Adopting a curriculum that's more relevant and

•  Engaging and helping struggling students get more access to support.

<a
href=”http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0303/p01s02-legn.html?s=widep”>Dropout rates high, but fixes under way