The Nation - News from Aug. 19, 1988

A federal judge ruled that Virginia’s system of appointive school boards, the only one of its kind in the nation, is constitutional despite arguments that it discriminates against blacks. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit challenging the process on behalf of seven black citizens earlier this year, alleging that blacks’ ability to win school board appointments was limited in the vast majority of cases. The civil rights group, urging Virginia to join 49 other states in electing school board members, claimed the 118-year-old system was maintained through the years to deter black participation. Supervisors or city councils in most school districts select board members, but in more than 40 jurisdictions, commissions appointed by circuit court judges--all of them white--choose board members.