Feds investigate Gwinnett school redistricting

LAWRENCEVILLE - The U.S. Department of Education is investigating whether Gwinnett County schools officials discriminated against black and Hispanic students when redistricting school boundaries.

Department of Education spokesman Jim Bradshaw told WSB-TV that the department is looking into whether the attendance zones for Peachtree Ridge and Duluth schools were drawn on the basis of race and national origin. The 1964 Civil Rights Act bans discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in all programs that receive federal funding.

The department said it received complaints in April from parents who claimed the district illegally singled out 450 underprivileged Hispanic and black children to move from an affluent school cluster to an "overburdened poorer school."

The Gwinnett School Board unanimously approved the redistricting plan in April.