Parent outcry forces Rahm to leave desegregated La Salle alone.

It became an embarrassment to the Mayor.

La Salle Language Academy, one of the first magnet schools in the city, established as a result of a court ordered desegregation plan thirty years ago, was about to be demagnetized. Located in Rahm’s own upscale neighborhood, Rahm’s plan would turn the school from being 30% white to 60% white.

The outcry was loud and sustained. And in the end, CPS CEO J.C. Brizard sent an email to parents saying he was taking the plan off the table.

While Chicago public schools are less than 9 percent white, the number of majority-white schools has increased from 19 to 25 since the court withdrew their deseg order in  2009.

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