District Administration - September 2007 - (Page 19)

AP Images / Manuel Balce Ceneta develop an amendment to promote crossdistrict transfers. If Mr. Kennedy supported this proposition he could deal a mighty blow to resurgent racial concentration—without introducing racial terminology into the debate. For this opportunity, one that was perhaps bestowed unintentionally, we have Justice Anthony Kennedy to thank. Students protested last December as the Supreme Court heard arguments by parents in Louisville and Seattle challenging the school policies. every American student as a citizen to be guaranteed an equal high quality public educational opportunity. Concurring with the 5-4 decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy repeated the usual rhetoric by saying the nation “has a moral and ethical obligation to fulﬁll its historic commitment to creating an integrated society that ensures equal opportunity for all its children.” I agree with Justice Kennedy’s dream, but I wish he’d wake up and join me in making it a reality. The decision he agreed with does nothing to get us there. Transferring Up Jonathan Kozol Veteran educator and author This op-ed piece ran in The New York Times in July. The Supreme Court ruling on school integration came as a blow to those watching the gradual dismantling of Brown v. Board of Education with despair. There is, however, some cause for hope. In his concurrence, Justice Anthony Kennedy opened up a new avenue for educational justice by contending that other methods of achieving integration—like revising school attendance zones—are constitutionally permissible so long as they do not sort and label individual children by race. Congress has an opportunity to take www.DistrictAdministration.com advantage of the opening created by Justice Kennedy later this year when it reauthorizes the federal No Child Left Behind act. The law gives children the right to transfer from a low-performing school to a high-performing school if the low-performing school has failed to demonstrate adequate improvement two years after being warned of its shortcomings. Unfortunately, the transfer provision has until now been a bust. Less than 3 percent of eligible children have been able to transfer, in part because of the scarcity of space in high-performing schools within most urban districts. Although the law does not prohibit transfers between urban and suburban schools, it oﬀers no inducements to the states to make this possible. Democrats in the Senate should therefore introduce an amendment to authorize and make easier cross-district transfers— not on a speciﬁcally race-conscious basis, but solely to fulﬁll the professed intention of the law. There is obvious urgency to this. At present, black children are more segregated in their public schools than at any time since 1968. In the inner-city schools I visit, minority children typically represent 95 percent to 99 percent of class enrollment. Not surprisingly, minority parents overwhelmingly support crossdistrict transfers. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose Education Committee will lead the way in reauthorizing the education law, should Views of a Veteran Administrator Deborah W. Meier MacArthur Genius, director and adviser to The Forum for Democracy and Education I can understand why many people of color have lost interest in the 1954 Supreme Court decision— because more than half a century later it’s never come to pass. Legally enforceable segregation was stopped, no small thing. But the promise behind the Brown decision was stymied by a host of other social, political and economic decisions that undermined the possibility of natural integration. The majority for the next 50 years made decisions that made integration in the places where kids spend 13 years learning about the world they live in highly unlikely. In 1954 suburban housing and transportation were subsidized by the federal government and were booming. But we made sure it happened in ways to “naturally” reinforce segregation. Families that were economically better oﬀ and white chose the easy solution, a trip to the suburbs. For middle-class blacks, there were also choices, especially once racial restrictions on housing were loosened. And there were not enough of them to change the character of the all-poor, all-black or Latino inner-city schools from being at least integrated by class to being all poor. September 2007 19 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

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Cover Contents Editor’s Letter Letters News Update Curriculum Update Inside the Law District Profile Administrator Profile District Buying Power 2007 X-Factor Student Achievement Awards 2007 We've Got Mail Supporting New Teachers How Well Does This Web Site Work? New Products Problem Solution Computer Literature Research Corner Online Edge Supervisor’s Opinion Speaking Out Calendar of Events Understanding the Times

District Administration - September 2007

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