Though I am convinced that we can't fix education without fixing poverty - that is - in a capitalist system people in poverty will always have less power than people with money, and that is guaranteed to produce unequal educational results - I also feel that the true need to create truly excellent neighborhood public schools for everyone.

I attended high school in the first "northern" US city to go through court-ordered desegregation. Until that point, that city school district had 12 elementary schools (in a 10 square mile city), 2 junior highs (geographically split), and 1 general high school (90% white) and one Vocational high school (90% black). Of the elementaries, 10 were almost entirely white, 1 entirely black, and one, serving the rare NY metro integrated area, was integrated. The court decision found that the boundaries of the "Lincoln School" had steadily been redrawn to turn it into an overcrowded, all black school.

The city's solution was to demolish Lincoln School

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870332,00.html

then merge the high schools, then offer "Lincoln District" parents their choice of any other school in the city.

This created interesting situations. All white city children walked to their K-6 neighborhood schools. Almost all black city children climbed aboard school busses every morning to ride to neighborhoos they really could not participate in. The city's elementaries strongly reflected their ethnic neighborhoods - 3 were indistinguishable from the Catholic schools which also served dominantly Italian neighborhoods - the 4 schools in the city's dominantly Jewish/Episcopalian "north end" (famous as "Rob Petrie" country) were highly competitive academic workshops. The Irish neighborhood schools tended to be more liberal, even experimenting with open classrooms very early on.

But the black neighborhoods had no school, no place where their choices might dominate.

This is complicated, because new opportunities certainly became available to African-American students through this desegregation plan, yet, the key opportunity - the chance to build a great neighborhood school, was denied.

It is this background which leads me to oppose Charter Schools as a systemic solution. Transported children are at disadvantages, neighborhood schools are a much better solution. And so the essential facts are that we need to reverse the US school money concept where the most cash flows to the kids with the fewest needs, and we must insist on creative community-based schools with real choices in every building.

... and being a "special ed is for every student" kind of guy, I'm waiting to see tomorrow's post...

I'm becoming more convinced that our large urban districts are a big part of the problem.  The facts about what gets spent for each kid and who's teaching each kid get lost in the jungle of our urban school bureaucracies.

Also, we need to talk about all of the dollars that get spent on each child's education.  That means including the money that parents spend on extra-curricular activities, health care, nutrition. and out of school child care - they're all necessary to an education.  If we balance all of those things, we'll be on our way to actually doing something about the disparities that exist.

So, we can start by saying school districts can have no more than 10,000 students each.  That should also get rid of some of the big buck administrative jobs.

Dan, it's interesting that you went from my post to "urban school bureaucracies."  The problem of segregation by race are not just an urban issue.  In fact, Long Island (NY) is one of the most segregated statistical metropolitan areas in the country.  There, local control has run amok.  There are 125 separate school districts just on Long Island, each paying an average of $250,000 to a superintendent.  Furthermore, if I remember correctly, 90% of the African-American students on Long Island are served by less than 10 (less than 10%) of the districts.

Segregation of schools is a complicated issue, and I don't see large urban school bureaucracies as related to that issue.

Dan:

Last year, Nashville went through a rezoning process that, depending on choices students and families made, could lead to more segregated student bodies at some schools.  Something that was never discussed at the time, in meetings or in the media, was the fact that the poor and minority students who were being bused to schools in wealthier areas, were not doing well in thier schools far from home. Those schools, in fact, had lower value-added scores than some of the schools that served almost entirely poor and minority students.  That data was easily available in the state report card online, but it was never discussed in the media.

I wished that the uproar had been over the lack of quality teachers and the right resources for all students.  That's what Brown v. Board was about.  My wife and I were glad that our son's elementary school class was diverse in many ways, but we were much more concerned with the quality of teaching he had access to.

Rich,

     I think your observation of Nashville supports my contention.  I only have personal expereince in Minneapolis where I now teach and in St. Paul where I lived for a while. My few years in New England only gave me a superficial understanding of Boston.  I know nothing about Long Island - I had dinner at my neice's in Queens a few years back, have been to JFK and LaGuardia a few times, but I hardly think that qualifies me to say anything about Long Island. (If you go to Brooklyn and Queens have you really been to Long Island?)  In general, I've found Long Island hard to get to, hard to get out of, and generally not very representative of mainland USA.

Growing up in South Dakota taught me almost nothing about integration or segregation, unless you want to talk about real segregation - the reservation kind. 

I really appreciated reading the story, though, about Ira's New Rochelle in 1963, which I've only seen from the train on my one trip through.  I think I'll post a link to it on the Minneapolis_Parents Forum web site where the strategic plan to fix the Mpls schools is sort of being discussed.  We don't use the term, Negroe, much anymore, but not a whole lot else has changed, it seems.

I think that there is a period where it's better to separate for instance boys and girls since when 11-13 girls' tend to learn faster while boys are still slow, I've worked as a teacher and that's why I say it. but a complete isolated educational process is really dangerous to develop social interactions.

Will the Mayor get his sons’ uniforms from the new store that wants to cater to DC Schools?
DC’s First School Uniform Store to Open August 10, 2009

DC’s Mayor is making good on his promise to send his sons to public school this fall. And when classes begin, the boys, along with 45,000 other DCPS students, will need new uniforms. Earlier this year, guidelines were laid out for a more stringent uniform policy—which studies have shown to improve student discipline, attendance and retention—but in the past parents usually had to venture out to Maryland to purchase the mandatory attire.
 
Enter Octavia Taylor Jackson, a mother of three young boys who attend DC public schools. After a layoff in late March, she put into motion a plan she had begun working on months before. Jackson, a native Washingtonian, has held well-paying jobs in the government, corporate and nonprofit sectors, but found her calling in entrepreneurship. Her passion for education and seeing children succeed in school pushed her to create Y.E.S.S.S. (Your Educational Supplies, Systems and Services), a school uniform and educational supply store that also provides consulting for information technology systems and related services for schools.
 
In a period of only four months, Jackson—whose last job was Senior Vice President for Information Technology at an educational nonprofit—located a venue, hired contractors, ordered inventory, found employees and is hosting the grand opening of her new store at 108 Rhode Island Avenue, NW on Monday, August 10. Just in time for the back-to-school season.
 
Asked about the reason for her new venture, Jackson states, “I remember several PTA meetings where I would commiserate with other parents over our frustration in finding school uniforms and supplies right here in DC. The tax free weekend wasn't beneficial when I had to go out to Maryland to find uniforms for my children who attend DC public schools. I started the company because I enjoy working with children and saw the need in my community for a store that sells school uniforms and supplies. I believe that this company is my destined career for the rest of my work life.”
 
Y.E.S.S.S. (Your Educational Supplies, Systems and Services) is the preeminent provider of educational resources that students need to complete their education with the highest level of success.  The company caters to the academic community by offering a full-scale product line of school supplies, from uniforms to books and backpacks; along with consulting for information technology systems and related services. For more information, visit www.theyesss.com or call (202) 525-4157.

Very informative and relavent !