U.S. Department of Education will investigate alleged civil rights violations in Jefferson Parish (La.) schools

From The New Orleans Times-Picayune: The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights will investigate complaints that the Jefferson Parish (La.) public school system discriminates against black students by having them arrested for minor infractions instead of disciplining them in school. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed a complaint Jan. 11, has been notified by federal officials that the allegations warrant further inquiry. The school system denies discriminating. Less than half of Jefferson's public school students are black, the Law Center says, but they account for three-quarters of all students arrests in the district. And many of those arrests were for minor infractions such as walking the hallways without a pass, skipping class and violating the cell phone policy.