Tension Rises In Dispute Over Hartford School Ad Campaign

Hartford school officials refused Monday to end an advertising campaign that has spurred protests from civil rights groups who contend it undermines a key strategy for desegregating the city's schools.

A coalition of groups supporting a court order in the Sheff vs. O'Neill desegregation case asked the school system to cease a campaign that discourages parents from applying to suburban schools or magnet schools that are fundamental elements of the desegregation plan.

"That the city of Hartford would orchestrate this campaign is wholly inexplicable and inappropriate," said a letter to city officials from Dennis D. Parker, director of the Racial Justice Program of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

The letter drew a sharp response from Hartford Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski, who described Parker's complaint as "inappropriate."

The exchange between Parker and Adamowski reflects an ongoing tension over the methods used to achieve the goals of the Sheff ruling. Adamowski has said the city supports the Sheff ruling but believes it has drained too many students from a system that has made significant strides to improve.

Hartford Public School officials launched the campaign earlier this year with television, radio and print advertisements urging parents not to gamble on a lottery for seats in suburban or regional magnet schools that are fundamental elements of the desegregation effort.

Instead, the ads advise families to choose among several career-oriented high schools and various restructured elementary and middle schools that are part of the city school system's school reform program.

Parker and other lawyers representing plaintiffs in the long-running Sheff case contend that the "Choose Hartford" campaign will undermine efforts to reach goals established under a court-approved settlement.

Regional magnet schools and suburban schools are the central elements of the state's effort to comply with a 1996 state Supreme Court order in the Sheff case seeking to reduce racial segregation among Hartford's mostly black and Hispanic student population. Since then, the state has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building and operating racially integrated magnet schools in the greater Hartford region. In addition, state officials are encouraging predominantly white suburban schools to accept more Hartford minority students under a transfer program known as Open Choice.

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