'Resegregation has been happening': Wake leaders discuss how to improve school diversity
Wake County school leaders treaded carefully Tuesday as they discussed how best to improve student diversity across schools in the district, including racially, socio-economically and academically.
While race won't be the only factor studied, board Chair Jim Martin said, he urged members not "to lose sight of the fact that resegregation has been happening." He said it might be helpful to examine the district's 1976 merger of the largely white Wake County schools with the largely minority Raleigh city schools to learn from the past while also understanding schools' current "regional uniqueness."
At a retreat last month, board members discussed tracking data to help balance student diversity and bring as many schools as possible within 20 percentage points of the district average. While the board hasn't approved a specific goal yet, the intention is to avoid having schools with extreme differences in poverty and race.
The board continued that discussion Tuesday, led by facilitators with RTI International, who walked the members through discussions about how to define diversity in schools, what data they could examine and how to get community input as they move forward.
"There’s an anxiety factor that comes in," board member Lindsay Mahaffey said, noting that the discussion might prompt parents to worry about their children being reassigned to different schools. "I think the parental feeling is, 'Oh my gosh. Is my family going to be impacted?'"
Mahaffey and other board members said it will be important to communicate with families about the process and explain why they are setting diversity goals.
"We have to explain our why over and over again, and it's a powerful why," board member Christine Kushner said. "It helps all children when we have integrated schools."
But shuffling students around is not the only answer, Martin said. The board must also examine school resources, such as staffing and access to after-school care, he said.
Board member Chris Heagarty pointed to some schools in his area, which have a good balance of racial diversity but are mostly affluent and don't have as many poor students.
"If we limit just to race ... you can say, 'Well, they’re diverse. They must be fine,'" he said, adding that schools need to provide more opportunities for at-risk students.
Vice Chair Keith Sutton asked his colleagues to be specific when talking about diversity and questioned whether they wanted to focus on race, poverty or academics.
"It could be a little bit confusing if we’re not clear about expectations," he said. "What is it we are actually trying to pursue, because I'm not sure we are exactly clear. If it's a hybrid of all three, then what does that look like?"
Board members said they hope to discuss more specific, measurable goals at their next meeting. In the meantime, they want to keep the conversation going.
"We can't let this die," said board member Monika Johnson-Hostler. "We have to be intentional about how we keep this on people’s palates."
