K.C. School Desegregation Judge Dies At 77

Retired federal judge Russell Clark, who presided over the controversial Kansas City school desegregation case, has died in Springfield. He was 77. Clark got the assignment to preside over the case shortly after being appointed to the federal bench in 1977. Finding in 1984 that the Kansas City School District discriminated against black students, Judge Clark ordered the state of Missouri to wipe out segregation. And, while Clark ordered millions to be spent on lavish buildings designed to attract white students to the inner city, his improvements had mixed results. Though the district got new buildings, test scores failed to show improvement. Eventually, the district lost state accreditation. Critics of Clark say he greatly over-reached his power and, in effect, robbed rural Missouri districts to fund a costly and ineffective solution to discrimination concerns.