I appreciate list members responses. Apologies for the length. Just trying to give reasonable answers.
Later this week, I�ll post an outline of the issues that I�d work on if elected. <<1. DO YOU ACCEPT THE SEGREGATED STATE OF THE MINNEAPOLIS PUBLIC SYSTEM AS ACCEPTABLE GIVEN THE ALTERNATIVES AND THE SUPPORT FOR THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL MODEL?>> I�ve written a lot on this. One article is at my campaign web site: http://www.denny4schools.org/hamline.pdf The thesis of that article for the Hamline Journal of Law and Public Policy is that school desegregation fell of its own weight when it became clear that schools cannot outsmart smart parents. No worthy parent with sufficient resources is going to send a child to a school that seems adrift. We can�t accept segregation, but 30 years of trying has indicated that after you reach racial tipping points, we�re not going to do much better by manipulating school attendance boundaries. I supported the move to community schools, hoping that communities and neighborhoods would be more involved in their schools... and that schools could contribute to stronger community life. That appears to be true in the more affluent areas, not so in the poorer areas. On the Board I would focus more on other avenues to bring kids and families together, more ways to integrate the schools in poor areas into their neighborhoods. What if the Board, in cooperation with neighborhood groups, established a set of standards for neighborhoods in providing a good environment for children? It may be time to dust off the old Jane Addams books and re-invent settlement houses. Bottom line: I support the idea of a system of community and magnet schools. The devil is right where you�d expect him to be. FYI: In the candidate forums, candidates Eubanks, Henry-Blythe and Peterson expressed reservations about community schools. I do not claim to accurately express their positions, but it�s worth a check by those on the list for whom this is important. <<2. IF NOT, WHAT POLICIES WOULD YOU ADVOCATE AS A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER TO REDUCE/ELIMINATE CLASS/RACE SEGREGATION IN SCHOOL POPULATIONS?>> Most affluent parents don�t flee a school based on race or class. Like Kathy, I have an African-American kid and no one was moving because of him, He was (and is) bright, motivated ... all the good stuff. Parents with options move because they think their kids are not going to get a good education in part because of the performance of kids in a given school. That is not about race or class, but it can be tied to cultural patterns that don�t jell with the middle-class assumptions of schooling. And often it links to support kids get outside the school related to poverty, instability, unmet needs for physical or mental health, abuse and neglect. You want to reduce school segregation in the current legal climate, you have to work on factors outside the school.. You give more supports to parents from pregnancy on, you do more with housing, health care, best interests of children, etc. High standards are an essential piece of the answer, but I�ve lost patience with those who think they can make the necessary changes in urban education by changing curriculum, class size, attendance patterns, IEP policies, bus routes or staff development. These are all worth a look and I support them to the degree they may make life better for kids. (Attention to the quality of the life -- not simple self-esteem stuff -- is a goal that has been fully eclipsed by political opportunists who focus only on test scores, but it remains quite important to thoughtful parents and our best teachers). <<3. IF SO, WHAT MUST BE DONE TO REDUCE THE CORRELATION BETWEEN POOR-PERFORMING SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLS WITH HIGH PERCENTAGES OF POOR STUDENTS>> In aggregate, test scores tell you the zip codes of parents. Poor-performing schools are almost always school attended by children of parents in poverty. Some school fall below or above expectations, but that�s another question. To an unfortunate degree, this is a race question. Two references, if readers are concerned with the issue rather than candidate sound bites: Jencks/Phillips (eds.), The Black-White Test Score Gap, published last year by Brookings...especially the chapter by Ronald Ferguson It Takes More Than Testing: Closing the Achievement Gap by the Center on Education Policy The gap has shrunk and grown over the last 30 years. There is general agreement that many of America�s woes would decrease substantially if the academic skills of all kids were higher and less correlated with race and economic characteristics. But no one offers a silver bullet. It is generally agreed that clustering poor children does lower test scores. Among the strategies that researchers think may contribute to improvement when desegregation is not a tool are: -- clear standards -- professional development for teachers ...the general teacher quality issue -- smaller class sizes in high-minority schools -- more access to challenging courses for minority students -- implementing some of the au courant all-school reform models -- more preschool -- adjustments in learning time (tutoring, summer school, Saturday school) -- more parent involvement. -- lots of data for adjusting programs within schools There is little research evidence that the gap is affected by: -- the race of teachers (anyone else catch Craig Vana�s quote in the Strib?) -- tracking policies Regardless, I am convinced the battle lies as much outside school walls as inside and that school leaders should not be accused of excuse-making when they say that. David�s question also implies the issue of whether, if you have segregated schools, you could use substantially different approaches. Again, there is no research base for supporting that although I might support decisions based more standards of decency than research. Finally, a related, evolving and unverified campaign observation: One unintended consequence of the move to community schools may be that Southwest Minneapolis parents, safe in their community schools, are less concerned with the over-all health of the district and its children. Dennis Schapiro Linden Hills Candidate for Board of Education www.denny4schools.org _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
