A file image of a judge's gavel in a courtroom at the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
U.S. District Court Judge David Bury has ruled that Tucson Unified School District be released from judicial oversight in its desegregation case, closing a decades-long legal battle.
In his ruling, Judge Bury said the district has obtained what is called unitary status in the case, and the supervision of its practices and policies will now be returned to the TUSD governing board.
The case goes all the way back to two class-action lawsuits filed in 1974 by Black American and Mexican American students who accused TUSD of segregation
In 1978, the court placed Southern Arizona's largest school district under judicial control to assure racial integration going forward.
TUSD is not answering questions or providing interviews on the ruling saying its legal team is still reviewing the court order, but in a statement, TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said it recognized what he called the districts "good faith effort and success in addressing the vestiges of segregation."
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.