By Ann Doss Helms
ahelms@charlotteobserver.com

The U.S. Department of Education will investigate civil-rights complaints alleging that the closing of eight Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools discriminates against minority students, according to a notice sent to Superintendent Peter Gorman this week.

Seven people filed complaints based on a November vote by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board to close schools that serve mostly black, Hispanic and low-income students, part of a package of budget-cutting changes for 2011-12.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials acknowledge the cuts disproportionately affect minority families, but say the decision was based on low enrollment and/or academic weakness, not race.

The department's Office of Civil Rights does not reveal who filed complaints, but families held a rally at Waddell High, one of the schools that will close, urging people to file such reports.

"Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination on the merits of the case," education department spokesman Jim Bradshaw said in an e-mail. "Rather, the office is merely a neutral fact-finder. It will collect and analyze all relevant evidence from the parties involved in the case to develop its findings."

If investigators find violations of federal civil-rights laws, they try to negotiate a resolution. In a worst-case scenario, a violation that can't be resolved could lead to CMS losing federal money or facing a Justice Department investigation.

Wake County Schools is also being investigated, based on complaints that its new student assignment plan violates civil-rights laws. The Wake board recently decided to scrap a plan that uses family income to promote school diversity, moving toward a neighborhood-based plan that is expected to create schools with higher concentrations of minority and low-income students.

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