According to the Courant, West Hartford town officials are scrambling to come up with a “solution” to the problem of severely racially imbalanced elementary schools. The town was put on notice by the State of Connecticut that remedial measures of some kind are necessary because there is a greater than 25% discrepancy between the percentage of minority students in the school district (now at 36%) and the student populations of Smith and Charter Oak elementary schools (70% and 81% respectively).
These schools have already been designated as magnet schools in town and that seems to be the primary focus of official discussions about how to shift these numbers in order to avoid racially isolated schools. However, the Courant article points out one of the reasons for the failure of the magnet school concept in this case. Minority parents who are moving to other parts of West Hartford are electing to send their kids to Smith and Charter Oak precisely because they are considered more diverse and more welcoming to students of color. This should give the all white school board and town council reason to pause.
Right now the focus of the discussion is entirely on ramping up the magnet school qualifications of Smith and Charter Oak – including one proposal for tearing down Charter Oak and spending $45 million to rebuild it as a newer. better magnet. Building better school facilities is always a good idea but in this case the motivation – more white parents will want to send their kids – turns the equation upside down. Officials are treating the problem of school segregation as something that must be solved by appeasing whites not by providing optimal educational opportunities for students of color. And they are ignoring the message that parents of color are sending: the majority white elementary schools in the town are not welcoming places for their kids.
It is ironic that the school board recently voted to cut out the one (part time) position in the district whose job it was to facilitate communicatons between latino parents and educators, while some are discussing spending millions to recruit white students for these schools.
The road to hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions. No doubt the school board wants to see students of color getting equal access to educational opportunities. But it needs to consider whether there is good reason that the majority white elementary schools in West Hartford are regarded as not welcoming to students of color.
Filed under: Fighting oppression
I think we residents of West Hartford need to shift some focus from school segregation to housing segregation.
My kids have never had more than 1 or 2 non-whites in their classroom. (None, by the way – in elementary school, middle school, or high school – has EVER had an African-American teacher).
An obvious cause? We live north of Farmington Ave. (“steered,” to some degree, by our realtor when we moved here from the Midwest). In “diverse” West Hartford, neighborhoods are highly segregated.
Our street is 99% white.
Why is this the case? Is it matter of the race/class connection? Do we need more affordable housing throughOUT the town (my opinion – YES)?
Is it racial steering by realtors?
Is it active racism, to such a degree that it makes people feel uncomfortable in some neighborhoods?
As far as I know, the town has never addressed housing segregation in any comprehensive, meaningful way.
THAT can be the town’s next move — and a better solution to school segregation than redistricting and/or busing.
Agreed. But with one caveat.
There is a tendency for politicians to say that they support whatever measures would promote racial equality that are not actually on the table at the moment. So when the problem of segregated schools is on the table they say they want to talk about housing (but not schools) . . . when the problem of segregated neighborhoods is under discussion then they say they want to talk about schools (but not housing).
I would like to believe that our elected officials can at least sometimes walk and chew gum simultaneously . . . and that the Board of Ed can talk about what the priorities ought to be to provide students of color with equal access to education and opportunities while the town council can seek to understand why West Hartford’s communities are so segregated even as the town as a whole is becoming so much more diverse.
Good point and complete agreement.