CLEVELAND, Ohio — A new Ohio Historical Marker unveiled Thursday afternoon commemorates the desegregation of Cleveland Public Schools by 1980 — a milestone decades in the making.

Dozens gathered on the front lawn of the Drury Plaza Hotel downtown for the unveiling of the marker, part of the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail that is led by the Cleveland Restoration Society. The marker is the 11th on the trail, and recognizes the long fight for educational equity in Cleveland .

Though a federal court ruled in Reed v. Rhodes in 1976 that the city's schools were unconstitutionally segregated, it wasn't until the 1979-80 school year that crosstown busing began to implement integration. Speakers at the ceremony shared personal reflections on that era.

"I remember getting off bus 635 right ther

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