Segregation in Charter Schools

[Anonymous]

The link below notes an interesting dynamic of Florida charter schools. What's sad is that you could replace Florida with DC and this article would be equally accurate. Both in terms of schools where the proportion of Black/Hispanic students eclipse state averages and in terms of schools where the proportion of White students eclipses state averages.

I wonder what this type of growing racial division means for all of us. Black. White. Asian. Hispanic. Other. So many of us call ourselves progressive. However, our actions show regressive social behaviors that harken to periods past that everyone claimed they never wished to revisit. And yet, revisiting them we are - with an ignorance of history that I thought unfathomable. Makes my heart bleed for where our children will be in 20 years.

I hoped that we would be further along by the time I hit adulthood. For, if we don't create an open society for our children now (and their understanding of society starts in how WE shape their home and their school) where race is not a determinate for your class or social group, how will they know what to create for future generations? One step forward, two steps back.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/05/02/30mct_flcharters.h30.html?tkn=WNMF6%2BBYnugab%2Bs6F%2FNTvQAcTfjwoBTgh2xW&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2

[Anonymous]

I have seen several large advertisements for DC charter schools on the sides and backs of DC buses in the last few months. Many of these ads include photographs of happy students. I have yet to see a white face in any of these ads. I have to assume that the schools approve their own ads, so what message are they trying to send? To me it is a message of "white kids not wanted here."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have seen several large advertisements for DC charter schools on the sides and backs of DC buses in the last few months. Many of these ads include photographs of happy students. I have yet to see a white face in any of these ads. I have to assume that the schools approve their own ads, so what message are they trying to send? To me it is a message of "white kids not wanted here."

Honestly, what are the schools supposed to do if there are no white kids?? I think most schools which have diversity try to tout it.

[Anonymous]

I don't think there are any charter schools (or public schools) in DC that are 90% white or Hispanic or Asian. Also, the article says the schools white parents are avoiding have a broad socio-economic, racial and ethnic mix, not the case in DC. Don't really see the parallels to charters in DC.

[Anonymous]

I saw a computer experiment once that programs "individuals" to have racial preferences as to who their neighbors would be. Each "house" had four neighbors. If the program was set to have individuals prefer a house were at least one neighbor was their race (i.e. a pretty "progressive" position -- I'm not seeking an all white neighborhood, or even a majority white neighborhood, I'd just like one of my 4 neighbors to be white -- or black or whatever I am).

After a few iterations of that game with that scenario the computer simulation pretty quickly ended up with with racially segregated "neighborhoods".

The same dynamic may play out in charters. If you are looking for a school where your child will not be the "only". Perhaps a white family that says, ok, I don't care if the school is majority another race, but I'd be more comfortable if 5 out of 20 PK kids was white -- how soon does that result in segregated schools?

Perhaps it does not happen with schools, b/c I would also have an upper limit on white, I would not want to send my kid to an all white charter school, so maybe that prevents the segregation.

Anyway, DC schools are no where near segregated. The "whitest" school is Cap City or Yu Ying and those are not even 50% white. So, maybe we'll be ok. (There are a lot of 100% AA schools, but maybe that is because the city is still majority AA -- if we were a majority white city, would anyone blink at 100% white charter schools?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have seen several large advertisements for DC charter schools on the sides and backs of DC buses in the last few months. Many of these ads include photographs of happy students. I have yet to see a white face in any of these ads. I have to assume that the schools approve their own ads, so what message are they trying to send? To me it is a message of "white kids not wanted here."

Don't agree. These schools are in deep SE or far NE where white parents do not reside and are not willing to drive the distance to enroll their DC in a mediocre charter.

[Anonymous]

So, OP, your complaint is that the demographics of charter schools in DC don't exactly mirror the demographics of the city? Can you point to examples of charters whose demographics are 90% white, as noted in the article?

[Anonymous]

Isn't half the issue behind why parents won't consider KIPP that they are not comfortable with the racial mix. I am white and that is my issue. I agree with the poster above, I need to be at least 20/25% white for it to work for me or at least not all one race. I just think a white kid would have it really hard. Also frankly the schools that are failing and therefore tend to have parents seeking charter schools are not in the whiter parts of DC. The big test will be Cap City's move.

[Anonymous]

I've got to say that I find this posting to be completely puzzling and factually unsupported. I am aware of absolutely no evidence that D.C.'s charter schools are significantly more racially segregated that D.C.'s traditional public schools. Looking around anecdotally, many, many of the better-known charter schools are extremely integrated, with sizable blocks of multiple ethnic groups. And I am aware of NO support for the idea that people are enrolling in charter schools in order to find a racially segregated educational experience for their children. True, there are demographic shifts underway at both charter and traditional public schools in some neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, but for the most part those demographic shifts reflect a shift in the population of school-aged children in the public schools in those neighborhoods. The only really segregated schools in this city tend to be traditional public schools - my (OOB) child attends an upper northwest school that is more than 90% white; the public school down the street from us is 100% AA. And the last that the Public Charter School Board looked at this issue, there were actually a slightly higher percentage of minority kids in the charter system than in the traditional public system. What possible basis in fact is there for this heavily rhetoric-laden posting that seems completely devoid of factual support from the D.C. charter system, as opposed to that of another state 1000+ miles away and involving a completely different school system?

[Anonymous]

Friendship Collegiate High School is not mediocre by no means. Plus, their access by metro is almost like door to door but the school population is 95% AA. One of their primary draws in the early years was when they hired the former principal of Banneker High School at the helm.

I have to disagree with the fact that advertisements are saying that white children are not welcome to these charter schools. Again, anything beyond middle-school would be hard pressed to have a racial mix of double digit numbers. Plainly put there is not enough white children above pre-k 3rd grade to make a charter school population substantial.

An all AA Friendship Middle School population are going to an AA Friendship High School population. Is it wrong?

[Anonymous]

OP: It seems that you are implicating individuals for regressionist choices. What, exactly, are you asking us as individuals to do when we are making our individual school choices? What would be the "progressive" thing to do in your opinion? I am honestly trying to figure out where your beef is. What has your heart bleeding so?

[Anonymous]

After reading the article, it seems to me that a way to integrate charter schools is to actively recruit/cater to the curricular needs and desires of white families to get more of them to apply to these all black charters. However, that tactic is political suicide in DC.

[Anonymous]

Responding to PP, Friendship charter is 95% AA - but most of the traditional high schools in DC are 100% AA or very close to it. Again, the point of the OP was that charter schools provide a means for parents intentionally to choose a more segregated experience for their children than would be the case in the traditional system. And, again, this point is completely factually unsupported as far as I can tell. With the exception of a tiny handful of middle schools and high schools, higher education in DCPS is extraordinarily racially segregated. So, as far as I can tell, the whole point of this thread seems to be to condemn charters without any basis in fact. And race-baiting, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't half the issue behind why parents won't consider KIPP that they are not comfortable with the racial mix. I am white and that is my issue. I agree with the poster above, I need to be at least 20/25% white for it to work for me or at least not all one race. I just think a white kid would have it really hard. Also frankly the schools that are failing and therefore tend to have parents seeking charter schools are not in the whiter parts of DC. The big test will be Cap City's move.

KIPP targets low income children with an intense program focused on discipline and long days (home-help built into the school day). Not to mention lots of chants. I am not sure it is a black/white thing. Are there lots of high income black kids in KIPP do you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Responding to PP, Friendship charter is 95% AA - but most of the traditional high schools in DC are 100% AA or very close to it. Again, the point of the OP was that charter schools provide a means for parents intentionally to choose a more segregated experience for their children than would be the case in the traditional system. And, again, this point is completely factually unsupported as far as I can tell. With the exception of a tiny handful of middle schools and high schools, higher education in DCPS is extraordinarily racially segregated. So, as far as I can tell, the whole point of this thread seems to be to condemn charters without any basis in fact. And race-baiting, of course.

Historically, the white families have either moved out of the city or gone private when it comes to middle and high school. It is just as of late that white families have reconsidered DCPS or charter for middle+. It's too soon to see how the trend will be. I guess I'm saying it's better to use elementary when making comparisons, but even then again location is another variable that you have to consider. I don't think it's all about race. We have already seen demographics change in formerly all minority neighborhoods (i.e. Columbia Heights).