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American Morning

Controversial New Law Divides Omaha's School System by Race

Aired April 17, 2006 - 09:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now a controversial new law in Nebraska that is dividing Omaha's school system by race. The plan calls for three separate school districts, one mostly white, one mostly Hispanic and one mostly black.
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SANDY JENSEN, OPS BOARD PRESIDENT: Shame, shame on our legislature.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Anger over a new law dividing Omaha's public schools into three districts along racial lines.

JENSEN: What they are saying is it's okay for there to be an African-American school district, a Latino district and a Caucasian district. And Brown versus Board of Education years ago said that is not right, and separate is not equal.

O'BRIEN: Critics say the new law amounts to state-sponsored segregation. Supporters say it's the best way to provide quality education for all students attending Omaha schools. They say the plan gives minority communities more say in how their schools are run, because school board members will be from those neighborhoods, and that money and resources will be parceled out more fairly. Some 45,000 students attend Omaha schools; 46 percent are white, 31 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic. Nebraska's governor lobbied hard for the bill and signed it into law last week. It goes into effect in 2008.

GOV. DAVE HEINEMAN (R), NEBRASKA: I am hopeful, and I'm going remain optimistic that this will provide for a new beginning.

O'BRIEN: But some students and parents say splitting Omaha's public schools along racial lines puts them squarely in the past.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perhaps I should sit down and my boys and explain to them that the diversity we value so highly is now insignificant. Maybe my daughter should hear how a number of senators made the decision to intentionally resegregate our city, out of, quote, "frustration" with OPS.

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O'BRIEN: Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers wrote the plan to divide Omaha's public schools. He joins us now from Omaha, along with fellow Nebraska lawmaker Patrick Bourne, who opposes the plan.

Could go have you both with us, gentlemen.

Mr. Chambers, let's begin with you. What is wrong with the schools there that segregation will fix?

ERNIE CHAMBERS, NEBRASKA STATE SENATE: Segregation already exists. The question here is whether or not the people in an area should govern the schools which their children attend. These boundaries are not for the purpose of attendance, but for governance and administration. When the parents have a stake in the education of their children, they can ensure that quality education occurs, and that is the purpose, that is the goal. We will deliver on that.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Born, I don't think anybody would argue with that, having parents more involved with education, having them closer to the school, so to speak, and the is a good idea? What's your counterpoint to that?

PATRICK BOURNE, NEBRASKA STATE SENATE: Well, what Senator Chambers ignores is the fact that the Omaha public school systems are integrated largely today; 58 percent of the elementary schools have a more diverse population than the neighborhoods in which the school is located. Sixty-four percent of middle schools are similarly situated, and 74 percent of the high schools have a more diverse student population than the neighborhood in which that high school is located. So integration is occurring now.

And again, what Senator Chambers forgets is that under this bill, it will be 1024 that was passed, there will be more segregation for two reasons. One, the administrators from the receiving school district that the student wants to transfer to a different district. The administrator's determine when their school is at capacity. They could have classrooms that are empty and not receive kids from the inner city.

And second, the option enrollment funding from the state doesn't follow the student any longer. So I'm convinced that we're going have more segregation, rather than integration, that's dividing our community and it's not appropriate.

O'BRIEN: Senator Chambers, has integration been a failure in the Omaha public schools?

CHAMBERS: Yes. There has.been integration. There can not be, and when Senator Bourne mentioned the number of schools that he calls integrated, he didn't point out that all of the black schools are given a euphemistic title "academy of schools." My proposal is one component of a very large, comprehensive bill, which includes the requirement that there be an integration and diversity plan, and if any district...

O'BRIEN: Wait, wait, wait, I'm sorry -- you create three separate districts, that are one black, one Hispanic and one white, and you say it has a proposal to increase integration, that seems like you're going in two directions there, sir.

CHAMBERS: No. The national media had not gotten the story. This small component is a part of a comprehensive two-county reorganization of all of the public school education. That overarching requirement and that law of which my proposal is a small part requires an integration and diversity plan, which if not complied with by any districts, results in the dissolving of that district, including the three that my proposal will create.

O'BRIEN: So, Mr. Chambers, let me make this clear, you're in favor of integrated schools?

CHAMBERS: I'm in favor of anything that will provide quality education, but there has not been integration. And that shiblith (ph) has been erected to hide the fact that quality educating isn't occurring. We're working on integration, so we can't do the other.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Bourne, how do you respond to that?

CHAMBERS: Well, it's difficult to respond to it, because it's a lot of conjecture. Senator Chambers ignores a lot of facts. The reality is, is that the Omaha public school spends on average $1,300 more per student in the inner city, where the large minority population is located, than they do in the western part, where the predominantly white area is.

There's no doubt in my mind that the way the Chambers amendment to this overarching bill -- that ultimately will happen is we'll have a black district, a Hispanic district and a white district. The way the rest of the bill is set up, it's a disincentive for students to go out of their district. So we're going to see an increase in segregation, and again, I think that's divisive to our community and inappropriate.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Chambers...

CHAMBERS: Poppycock!

O'BRIEN: Poppycock, really?

CHAMBERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Is this a bad message you're teaching students there? Are you telling them something about racism perhaps here?

CHAMBERS: Let's deal with the facts. The law requires that every child be allowed to continue attending the school he or she attends prior to this reorganization. It allows the child to attend any school in this two-county area, and transportation will be provided. These are the facts which people in Omaha know. Some have not read the entire legislation. So they're being fed misinformation by the administrators, some teachers and even the local media have not examined the entire law.

It is a 172-page piece of legislation. My proposal takes up less than one-and-a-half pages, but that is what has gotten the news, and it has not been properly characterized or represented.

O'BRIEN: Well, we hope we did. We hope you tried to characterize it in a way that is proper. Thank you very much, both, gentlemen. Nebraska State Senators Ernie Chambers and Patrick Bourne from Omaha this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's head to Iraq now. U.S. Marines attacked in Ramadi today. A vicious firefight broke out at the governor's compound. Arwa Damon is embedded with the U.S. Marine unit defending that compound, and she joins us now live from Ramadi on videophone.

Arwa, what happened?

Arwa, can you hear us? What happened in this firefight today?

All right. Obviously we're having some technical difficulties getting Arwa up, and of course you want to stay tuned to CNN, and we'll continue to bring you the latest on the firefight that broke out today in Ramadi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: All of that rain we've been seeing in California may soon affect what you see at the grocery store. You can think of it as a summer reminder of the spring storms perhaps.

CNN's Kyung Lah has the story.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This silence is deafening for almond farmer Vito Chiesa. Normally his fields are alive with activity.

VITO CHIESA, ALMOND FARMER: Everyday that it continues is more money that it continues is more money that's going out of our pocket. He's talking about record rains in northern California, knocking almond blooms to the ground.

LAH (on camera): These are all of the blooms that fell off.

CHIESA: Yes, these are little almonds right here. Take a look, and you peel this back, and these are the ones that fell off.

There was probably 10 or 15 blooms, and we ended up with one almond.

LAH (voice-over): Some of the blooms that survived the wind and rain are diseased.

CHIESA: These twigs, that's brown rot, right there.

LAH: Across the valley, strawberry farmers have their own problems. Half the fields are underwater. PAO YANG, STRAWBERRY FARMER: Right now we are looking at 50 percent or more damage for the total year harvest.

LAH (on camera): So all of this is rotten because of the rain.

YANG: All these are rotten one. The white one, the green one, the flowers, it's a let of damage.

LAH: Strawberries are particularly hard hit, because harvest time for them is right now. But this is a story that's being repeated across northern California crops.

DAVE KRANZ, CALIFORNIA FARM BUREAU: Initially people will see the impact on things like strawberries and asparagus, and some of the other crops that are being harvested right now. They may not be as plentiful in their stores as they would normally be.

LAH (voice-over): A lower supply often means higher prices in grocery stores.

KRANZ: We'll be seeing the impacts of this in California throughout the remainder of the summer and fall, and that will affect what people see on their grocery store shelves as well.

LAH: And while consumers face higher prices, farmers don't expect to join in the economic harvest. The record rains have left them knee-deep in debt.

Kyung Lah, CNN, California's central valley

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, a new movie in the middle of a legal battle. We'll tell you why a California prosecutor could be in hot water, all because he helped out the producers of this movie, "Alpha dog." That's what you're looking at. Stay with us. We'll have the scoop.

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M. O'BRIEN: A high-stakes Hollywood battle brewing over the movie "Alpha Dog." The movie stars some big names, like Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake. But it's some lesser known names that could play a much bigger role in this one.

Brooke Anderson with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN MARKOWITZ, VICTIM'S MOTHER: Forever destroyed.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A grieving mother, a murdered teen, and a suspect on the lam.

MARKOWITZ: I would rather die, but hopefully before I do, I get to see Jesse James Hollywood caught. ANDERSON: The case of Jesse James Hollywood, a San Fernando Valley man who fled the country after he was accused of murder, had all the makings of a Hollywood movie and now it is one.

SHARON STONE, ACTRESS: Tell me what it's like!

ANDERSON: But the movie "Alpha Dog" has become the subject of a legal battle itself, even before it hits theaters. The reason? The prosecutor in Hollywood's death penalty case was an unpaid consultant on the film. Santa Barbara County assistant D.A. Ron Zonen turned over his whole case file to director Nick Cassavetes to help get the film made.

JAMES BLATT, HOLLYWOOD'S ATTORNEY: When you give out police reports, rap sheets, names and addresses of witnesses, psych and probation reports, those are misdemeanors. They are violations of law.

ANDERSON: Hollywood's attorney James Blatt has petitioned the California Supreme Court to get Zonen kicked off the case, arguing that by collaborating the film, Zonen jeopardized Hollywood's right to a fair trial.

BLATT: It's not appropriate to make a motion picture when you present your concept of what the character is to the jury pool before we do the jury trial.

ANDERSON: Zonen insists he did nothing wrong. In a court declaration, he said he decided to help on the film, hoping it would lead to the capture of Jesse James Hollywood, who was still a fugitive when "Alpha Dog" started filming. Hollywood was later apprehended in Brazil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't just take a kid and have no one notice.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, ACTOR: That's what I told you. Didn't I say that?

ANDERSON: Blatt says if his petition to remove Zonen fails, he still has another card up his sleeve. He could try to keep "Alpha Dog" out of theaters.

BLATT: We are seriously considering legal action to try to endjoin (ph) the distribution of the film.

ANDERSON: Director Cassavetes doubts that effort would succeed.

NICK CASSAVETES, DIRECTOR, "ALPHA DOG": I don't think that movie gets in the way of Mr. Hollywood getting a fair trial.

ANDERSON: No date has been set for Hollywood's murder trial. "Alpha Dog" is due for release some time later this year.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Coming up at the top of the hour, gripping images of life after Hurricane Katrina, taken by schoolchildren in south Alabama. Their town is finally getting national media attention, thanks to a Chicago area school.

More AMERICAN MORNING right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, 100 years ago -- the anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake. We'll take a look at that as well as the possibility of a big one striking in the Midwest. Millions are vulnerable. That's tomorrow, starting at 6:00 Eastern right here on CNN. We invite you to join us then. That's all the time we have for today.

NGUYEN: Is it really? Wow.

O'BRIEN: Hard to believe. Flew by, didn't it?

NGUYEN: Just like that.

O'BRIEN: We're glad you could be here, Betty, and we'll see you all this week.

NGUYEN: It's been good to be here. Yes, Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center and she's going to take you through the next couple of hours right here on CNN.

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