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Desegregation Changes Ahead?; With Some Racine Schools Not in Compliance, District Might Alter Its Program in 2006-'07

Posted on: Friday, 29 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Racine Walk into Julian Thomas Elementary School, and you will notice that more than 8 of 10 students are African-American or Latino. But if you visit Jefferson or North Park schools, you will see that only 2 in 10 students are minorities.

It's not supposed to be that way.

About half the Racine Unified School District's elementary schools and a third of its middle schools are out of compliance with its voluntary desegregation program.

That might change as early as the 2006-'07 school year.

The Equity and Access Committee, which the School Board initiated this year, has been reviewing the desegregation policy and might recommend revisions by January.

"It has been too long. I think we've all been lax," said Beverly Hicks, executive director of the Racine chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"A lot of variables go into it. We can't point the finger at any one person."

The district's policy states that no school may have minority populations 10 percentage points below or 15 percentage points above the percentage of minority students enrolled districtwide at that school's level.

The policy excludes schools that serve special populations, such as students with discipline issues.

The policy was adopted in 1977, an era in which many school districts were forced to desegregate.

The policy was last revised in 1990 and most recently reviewed in 2000.

The board "was supposed to review (the policy) periodically. It hasn't been done," Assistant Superintendent Ann Laing said.

Schools' reasons

Laing said elementary schools, with their smaller populations, are more likely to be out of compliance than middle and high schools because elementary schools draw from narrow geographic areas. Thus, as demographics change drastically in certain areas, so do student populations.

Laing estimated that some elementary schools have failed to follow the desegregation policy for the past decade.

She cited parental opposition to redistricting as another reason why minority numbers have drifted away from the guidelines.

During the district's most recent attempt to redraw geographic boundaries, in 1995, there was a hue and cry from parents about not wanting students to relocate to other schools, Laing said.

She added that parents were not upset about racial issues but about shifting their students from small schools to larger ones.

District spokeswoman Linda Flashinski attributed the lack of compliance to "student mobility; boundary exceptions and elementary school choice; shifting boundary lines; changing housing patterns; the building of Julian Thomas as a neighborhood school; special programs, such as bilingual education; and less attention to minority recruitment by some magnet programs."

Policy suspended 1 year

Laing said administrators will consider redistricting after a study of district facilities is completed in early 2006.

Preliminary findings from the study show that student populations are unevenly distributed at the elementary schools, so some students might be moved to use building space more efficiently.

Meanwhile, the board unanimously voted to suspend the desegregation policy for one year on June 20, the same evening it decided to close Winslow Elementary School for financial reasons.

Board member Randy Bangs said the policy was suspended because the district was planning to bus Winslow students, who are mostly minorities, to Julian Thomas, also with mainly minority students.

"It's not that the board is walking away from desegregation. It was strictly a move to allow us to do one thing: close one school," Bangs said.

Bangs and Laing said the suspension will not affect the racial balance of district schools.

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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