In 1989, when her son, Milo, was a fourth grade student at Annie Fisher Elementary School in Hartford, Elizabeth Horton Sheff joined with ten other families and began a long and arduous journey to redress the inequity between the level of education provided to students in Hartford public schools and that available to children in surrounding suburban districts.

This journey has become known around the State of Connecticut, and throughout the United States, as Sheff vs. O’Neill–a landmark civil rights effort that seeks to prepare all children to live and prosper in an increasingly diverse, globally connected world.

The plaintiffs in this case continue to advocate for the State of Connecticut to uphold the constitutional rights of children in Hartford schools.The original Sheff plaintiff families were:

• Milo Sheff, an African-American child residing in Hartford

• Wildaliz, Pedro, and Eva Bermudez, Latino children residing in Hartford

• Oskar and Waleska Melendez, Latino children residing in Glastonbury

• Martin Hamilton, an African-American child residing in Hartford

• Janelle Hughley, an African-American child residing in Hartford

• Neiima Best, an African-American child residing in Hartford

• Lisa Laboy, a Latino child residing in Hartford

• David and Michael Harrington, white children residing in Hartford

• Rachel and Joseph Leach, white children residing in West Hartford

• Erica and Tasha Connolly, white children residing in Hartford

• Michael and Dawn Perez, Latino children residing in Hartford