FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
March 14
, 2005

Contacts:
Iris Toyer
, 202.319.1000, ext. 117
Rod Boggs, 202.319.1000, ext. 103
               

Parents United for the D.C. Public Schools to Release Special Report on the State of the D.C. Public Schools 50 Years after Brown v. Board of Education

At 11:00 on Tuesday, March 15, Parents United for the D.C. Public Schools will hold a press conference to release a major report, Separate and Unequal, the State of the D.C. Public Schools Fifty Years after Brown and Bolling.  This report examines the condition of public education in the Nation's Capitol five decades after desegregation. The press conference will be held at the offices of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, 11 Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 400.

The report was prepared by the staff of the Washington Lawyers' Committee and a team of area law firms led by Ronald Flagg and Patrick Linehan at the firm of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood.  Other leading firms contributing to the report include: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Foley & Lardner;  Fulbright & Jaworski; Steptoe & Johnson; and Covington & Burling.

The report's authors were assisted by a Business and Civic Leader Advisory Committee, whose membership includes: Barry Coburn, Maudine R. Cooper, James O. Gibson, James W. Jones, Charles R. Lawrence, Ignacia S. Moreno, Jay Silberman, Richard W. Snowdon III, Leslie M. Turner and Roger Wilkins.  Several members of the Advisory Committee will join the report’s authors at the press conference.  Iris Toyer and Mary Levy will represent Parents United and the Washington Lawyers' Committee.  Ronald Flagg and Patrick Linehan of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood will also be participating.

Among the exhibits to report to be made available at the press conference are a series of enlarged photographs illustrating the physical condition of the D.C. schools and charts depicting major deficiencies in basic D.C. school programs and resources compared to those available in neighboring suburban school districts.

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