Dallas school trustees will meet in closed session Thursday to discuss a lawsuit that alleges the district provides inferior programs and facilities to black and lower-income students.

The plaintiffs contend that the district is providing lower-quality academic programs, equipment, facilities and materials at schools located in minority areas, particularly in predominately black communities. The suit was filed in U.S. district court last week

"They have neglected the black community," said Shirley Daniels, a member of the Black Coalition to Maximize Education, one of the plaintiffs. Other plaintiffs include DISD students and parents and a former district employee.

DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said Tuesday that the district would not comment on pending litigation.

The plaintiffs' claims come about five years after a federal judge ended DISD's long-standing desegregation case, in which the Black Coalition to Maximize Education was a plaintiff. U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders ended the 33-year-old desegregation case in June 2003 after determining that the remnants of past discrimination in DISD had been eliminated.

The allegations in the new suit include concerns about Maynard Jackson Middle School. The plaintiffs contend that the school has sewage spills among other problems.

Mr. Dahlander said Tuesday that the district has been addressing the sewage problems. He also said the district plans to eventually phase out the campus.

One plaintiff, John Williams, is a former DISD employee who worked on the 1992 bond program.

Mr. Williams contends in the suit that DISD retaliated against him for complaining often that the district was diverting bond funds from black neighborhoods to other DISD schools. Mr. Williams, who left the district in August, declined to comment Tuesday.