SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. (AP) -- Federal officials are questioning racial balance in the Robertson County public schools.
According to The Tennessean, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice are sending investigators to the district in June. The newspaper said federal officials want to know how the county school board drew attendance zones.
District officials deny purposefully creating segregation. They expect a new elementary school scheduled to open in fall 2015 to racially balance schools.
The newspaper reported 92 percent of students at three rural elementary schools are white children.
County school board Chairman Stoney Crockett said accusations of segregation are unfair. He said the county has never built schools to isolate students who live outside of Springfield, where schools have better racial balance.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
