Legal Win Won’t Fix MCPS Magnet Admissions

Abstract

The US District Court in Maryland dismissed a lawsuit against Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) for violating equal protection in magnet admission rules. MCPS has struggled for years to bring in more Black and Latino students to its most prestigious programs, but an Asian-American parent group, backed by the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, argued that even a facially-neutral lottery system was intentionally discriminatory against Asian students. Sunil Dasgupta talked with University of Maryland professor and Asian-American activist Janelle Wong about the controversy and its implications. Music by Montgomery County climate band, The Sunshiners.