Johanna Wright, a member of the district’s board of education, said the clear racial disparities in the system should make everyone feel the need to respond.

“There can be no more lying about the racism that infects public education in our school district,” she said.

While the district is generally considered high performing based on measurements like standardized test scores and the number of high school graduates bound for college, there are major differences between white students and black students.

The school district has, as far back as the 1960s, made efforts to racially integrate its schools — including using busing. But critics say some of the schools have struggled to achieve the ultimate goal of full integration. Marshall & Jefferson Elementary Schools have participated in busing in the past as part of integration efforts, but today, like other district elementary schools, provides bus transportation largely for geographic reasons.

Black students in the district are, on average, academically three grades behind their white peers and are five times likelier to be suspended than white students, according to an analysis in 2017 by ProPublica. On state tests in math and language arts, black students lagged behind their white classmates in all seven elementary schools.