America's Wire Releases Article Citing The Role That Magnet Schools Play In Providing Integrated Classrooms In The Hartford Area

**America's Wire Stories Are Available Free to All Media Outlets and Websites**

HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's Wire today released an article citing the critical role that magnet schools are playing in providing integrated classroom in the Hartford area.   

Written by Susan Eaton, the story notes that two and a half decades ago, in 1989, Elizabeth Horton Sheff, then a single mother of two, signed on as lead plaintiff in the Sheff v. O'Neill case, which argued that racial and class segregation in the region's schools denied students the equal opportunity granted in the state Constitution. In 1996, the state's highest court decided in favor of the plaintiffs.

"It's unlikely that the mix of racially diverse schools would have come into being without the lawsuit that bears Elizabeth Horton Sheff's name," Eaton writes. "But a growing community of parents, students, alumni and educators is also working to keep the vision of the case alive. The power of this broad constituency has yet to be fully tapped, but a decade-old network, the Sheff Movement coalition, has worked to bring a diverse group of supporters together around a common aspiration of "quality, integrated education…"

The story notes that in 2012, the region's magnets enrolled more than 13,000 students. They are extremely popular among urban and suburban families.

The complete story is available free of charge from America's Wire.  Go to www.Americaswire.org  and click downloads (right column). America's Wire provides mainstream newspapers, community papers, websites, ethnic publications and wire services with stories reporting on structural inequities and the communities impacted. America's Wire is operated by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

On November 8 and 9, One Nation Indivisible and the Sheff Movement are sponsoring a two-day conference, "Where Integration Meets Innovation," that will highlight best practices and examine new options in creating integrated classrooms. The conference, which is being held in Hartford, includes:

• 9:00 am (11/8) Bus tours of magnet schools with integrated classrooms
• 1:00 pm (11/8) Panel: Brown v. Board of Education for a New Generation: Educators, Parents, Activists and Civil Rights Lawyers Closing the Opportunity Gap in Greater Hartford
• 5:30 pm (11/8) Panel: Harnessing Diversity's Potential: Employing Student-Centered Learning and Technology to Achieve Equity and to Build 21st Century Skills
• 10:00 am (11/9) Panel: Building the Beloved Community: Policy, Practice and Renewed Purpose in a Diverse Nation

For more information, go to: http://www.onenationindivisible.org/hartford

(Susan Eaton is co-director of One Nation Indivisible, a project that writes about people and organizations helping create inclusive, racially and culturally diverse schools, communities and social institutions.  America's Wire is an independent, nonprofit news service run by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Stories can be republished free of charge. For more information, visit www.americaswire.org or contact Michael K. Frisby at [email protected].) 

CONTACT:
Michael K. Frisby
202-625-4328
[email protected]

SOURCE America's Wire