(Credit: (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)) Like many Southern cities, Clinton, Mississippi, bears the scars of American slavery. A road cutting through the city’s center marks a key route used by slave traders in the decades before the Civil War. Signs across town tell the story of a Reconstruction-era riot that claimed the lives of at least 30 African-Americans. But, unlike many of its neighbors, Clinton is doing all it can to heal those scars through its public school system. As the national discussion has shifted towards “school choice,” often a cover for charter schools and voucher programs, Clinton has moved in the opposite direction, towards working together and using public resources to give every student a high-quality education. It all started with an innovative idea. In the early 1970s, Clinton began sending its kids to the same schools regardless of where they live.