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With Every Passing Day
December 10, 2006
Children who learn in classrooms with white,
black, brown and yellow faces are best prepared for the real world
where, with luck, they will encounter diversity in the workplace.
It is common sense that children who interact with peers from different
backgrounds will grow up with fewer prejudices and be more likely
to get along in a multicultural society.
Sadly, there are not enough of these healthy
learning environments, especially in poor urban areas. Historically,
courts have had to intervene to create integrated schools. In Connecticut,
it has been nearly 18 years since the landmark Sheff vs. O'Neill
lawsuit was filed to end de facto segregation in the Hartford system,
and a decade since the Connecticut Supreme Court ordered the state
to find remedies for racial isolation.
Progress has been too slow. In 2003, a settlement
was reached between the state and the impatient plaintiffs that
called for specific measures. Eight new magnet schools were to be
built over four years. Participation in an existing program, Open
Choice, by which Hartford children could attend school in the suburbs,
was to be increased. The goal was to have 30 percent of Hartford
students in integrated schools by 2007.
As the June deadline approaches, by the best
estimates that number is 23 percent. Some scholars put it as low
as 14 percent.
Only three of a dozen Hartford magnet schools
exist in new buildings. Several others are in various stages of
planning, but not all will be established by the 2007 deadline.
Many of the magnets have failed to attract an adequate number of
white suburban students. The number of open seats for Hartford students
in suburban schools has barely moved.
Meanwhile, the Hartford school system is still
95 percent mostly poor minorities. Test scores have not moved from
the basement.
But despite the tortoise pace of change, many
more opportunities exist today for students from varied ethnic and
economic backgrounds to learn together. Regional magnet schools
and independent, publicly funded charter schools have thrived under
a formula of compelling curricula and municipal partnerships. Many
have been successful in bridging the achievement gap that has persisted
in urban school systems, including Hartford's. Unfortunately, these
successful schools have long waiting lists.
The state should use the looming deadline in
the Sheff case as an opportunity to redouble efforts to provide
more choices for Hartford children to get a quality education that
will in turn benefit all. At this point, it is clear what's working
and what isn't.
The governor and legislature need to expand
on the successes by investing in more regional magnet schools with
themes that will have parents clamoring for spots on behalf of their
kids. They must better fund public charter schools and provide incentives
for suburban districts to fill more open seats with Hartford children.
They must act on a recommendation to ensure that preschool slots
exist for all low-income children who are 3 and 4 years old. And
underperforming schools must be improved.
The state has made strides in response to the
Sheff decision. It just hasn't made them fast enough to meet the
challenge. And, as the Supreme Court noted in its Memorandum of
Decision in the Sheff case, the stakes are high:
"Every passing day denies these children their
constitutional right to a substantially equal educational opportunity.
Every passing day shortchanges these children in their ability to
learn to contribute to their own well-being and to that of this
state and nation. We direct the legislature and the executive branch
to put the search for appropriate remedial measures at the top of
their respective agendas. We are confident that with energy and
good will, appropriate remedies can be found and implemented in
time to make a difference before another generation of children
suffers the consequences of a segregated public school education."
It's been nearly a generation since the suit
was filed. Let's not wait until the remedies cease to be voluntary.
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant
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