Anonymous wrote:Boundary changes are hard because people have made long term financial decisions (like purchasing a home) based on school boundaries. It's not so simple to just change these. I'm in a neighborhood that I'm pretty sure would stay as it's currently structured, simply because of proximity to the schools we're assigned to, but I really feel for people who might face changes. There are very few situations where you'd be getting a better deal with boundary changes. You're talking about moving people who have chosen to pay more for a house to be in a better school zone to a worse school zone and changing their housing value drastically. Not a good solution.
I think they should work harder to improve the schools as they exist. We are at an elementary school that is only 46% white and 40% FARMs with a high ESL rate. My kids are white upper middle class and we love this school. The principal and teachers are excellent. There are challenges, of course, but the wider community supports the school as well (churches help with food over weekends and summer, coat drives, etc.). There are ways to meet a school's needs where it is instead of trying to change the student population. I also think there's an element of racism in the thought that adding "white rich kids" will improve a school.
There’s also an element of racism about being concerned about mandatory busing and FARMS rates, no? There’s also an element of structural racism in being privileged to chase better property values, no?