BOE To State: Give Our Magnets Back

The Sheff Decision was based upon the racist premise that children of color can only learn by sitting next to white kids. There was nothing in the decision about white kids being "racially isolated" by going to school in the all-white suburbs. We need to throw the case out- legislatively if possible.
Give us back our schools and give us "qualified" teachers – not a bunch of clock punchers from the suburbs who are afraid of our children. And give us the resources so we have the proper technology and supplies necessary to compete in today's world.
Don't incentivize school choice to attract white kids who don't want to be here anyway. Their parents moved to the suburbs to go to their all-white schools and live in the all-white neighborhoods.
The so-called statistics are a bunch of BS. There are plenty of all black schools in the country that are doing just fine. And why is it that graduates of Spelman, Hampton and Howard do so well? Is it because they were lucky enough to sit next to white kids when they were younger??
I'm so tired of white liberals trying to run the show. And the Sheff decision turned their beliefs into law.

Liberals argue it's not race- " while white families can distance themselves from kids with different skin colors, learning disabilities, language barriers and empty stomachs" Another liberal racist BS.

We don't need suburban kids for our kids to succeed!! Stop the madness....

I was born the same year Brown v. Board of Education was decided so the history of school desegregation parallels my own passage through public schools, and that of my adult children. Before I make my main point I want to decouple some of the binary, black/white perspective that obscures discussion of public education and simply remind people that white does not automatically equal middle or upper-class and black does not automatically equal poor. That said, I am not willing to summarily dismiss the research on school integration (or the writings of Nikole Hannah-Jones) as BS. They are probably strongest in their assessments about resource allocation for integrated schools versus majority-minority schools, but I haven't read enough of the research lately to critique it.
But like others who have lived in cities like Washington, DC or New York, and now in New Haven, our lived experience is that neighborhoods and cities are increasingly segregated by race, ethnicity and class. Educational public policy that mandates desegregation has always been at odds with private sector housing policy and practices. This has left public school systems with the disproportionate burden of advancing social equality. And after 60+ years, here we are: rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic after we've collided with the iceberg of an increasingly stratified society.
Instead of continuing the pretense that, through public education, we can achieve a "color-blind" society in which black and brown are not synonyms for inferiority, let's such get on with it. It detracts from what I think is far more important which is the battle for resources, relevant curriculum, and great teaching. I believe that's where our energy should be focused, and that we should abandon commitment to a social ideal, integration, whose currency was always debatable and whose time has passed.

Ed Joyner make a valid and common sense argument for changes to the system. There is nothing wrong with neighborhood schools as long as they are properly run. It shouldn't have anything to do with the skin color of the student in the next seat.
I've seen dozens of white families flee from magnet schools not because of the diversity of the student body but for the sole reason that the school was poorly run.
If leadership can't keep the school environment safe for all students and find a way to deal with disruptive students of all colors than families of all colors will continue to find safer schools elsewhere.

The biggest mistake the Choice & Enrollment Office made was putting all of the schools in the lottery. The lottery should be for just Magnet schools. Also, don't open up seats at Hillhouse and Cross; keep those schools true Neighborhood schools. Please keep in mind that the statement only only 400 incoming freshmen were affected in the lottery is false. My son received a new letter with waiting list numbers that were higher than the first letter. The only incoming freshmen not affected were those who were placed. In order to place freshmen on the waiting lists many freshmen were bumped to higher numbers. How is that fair and equitable, Mr. Middleton and Dr. Birks?

I will say that since Mr. Middleton gave all schools access to their waiting lists that were downloaded, it will be very transparent for everyone to know if any favors are being done. He won't be able to skip the waiting lists for anyone. This shows he's not being unethical or willing to break the law. All eyes will be on this.

I think before anyone runs to the State about anything regarding Magnet Schools, I suggest you get in the room with the people who know about Magnet Schools. NHPS is in a deficit. Plenty of tenured teachers, paras, Curriculum, etc...is paid through that State funding, not to mention what the Federal money funds. Can New Haven afford to add to the current deficit? Should students be robbed of their specialized curriculum?

I'd be interested to see legislation that puts the burden of desegregation on suburbs. Not that I expect that to ever happen. What if all school districts had to reflect the demographics of the state, or even their county or RESC?

I know it will never happen, but what if we ALL had to work together to make the schools in our state better? And we recognized the value of diversity, even beyond test scores?

I was on the legislature's non-partisan staff when it adopted legislation providing more funding for inter district magnet schools in response to Sheff v. O'Neill. Contrary to Dr. Joyner and Westville man's statements, the funding was not premised on the belief that "children of color only learn by sitting next to white kids." The plaintiffs included white as well as African-American and Hispanic kids and provided evidence that all kids do better in integrated schools. Nor can the case be thrown out legislatively. The state Supreme Court decided the case on the state constitution's requirement that all kids be provided with substantially equal educational opportunity.

FWIW, I'm about to head off to teach math at Columbus School. The kids at New Haven public schools need more resources. But discouraging greater diversity (class as well as race) in the schools is not going to help.

Kevin, if you read the decision, it's right in there. And why are we not worried about white kids being isolated then? No one's discouraging diversity- just stop penalizing our kids because white children and their families choose schools and neighborhoods without any concern for diversity.
I'm no genius, but I was on a panel over 20 years ago with the so-called experts and I was the only one arguing that we would be back in 20 to 25 years still stuck with the same issues. Why? Because Sheff did not deal with the issue of racism. White people are quite happy living with, and going to school with, other whites.
My post is based upon my own studies and experience, not some liberal research. Let's get on with doing what's best for our black and brown children instead of being the only ones concerned about so-called diversity.

Thinking that we need to have kids from the suburbs to diversify is so short sighted and I agree entirely with Westville man and others. For a short term fix, look at all the diversity (many white students) within the NHPS students now on the waiting list! Maybe if we had a working system that integrated them into slots in these schools we wouldn't have to worry about getting diversity from outside NHPS. But instead this lottery system is broken and these consultants who hide behind their academic credentials have made it worse than ever creating a hardship and confusion for families who are trying to make NHPS a choice. Start by working with these families!

Once again the NHPS is attempting to address a self inflicted wound. Chasing state funding , the NHPS went all-in for magnet funding. To make the magnet system work, NH has implemented a massive transportation system that cost 25 million dollars to maintain. Could some one illuminate me about the state funds received through the magnet program and is it greater than the cost of busing?

[Chris: This year, the district estimated that it will receive about $32,986,460 in inter-district magnet funds from the state.]

(1) Integrated schools are the only policy that has effectively addressed the achievement gap. There may be other solutions, but none with a proven track record. Unfortunately, over the last 30 years, our country has moved farther and farther away from pursuing integration as a goal. OBVIOUSLY, it has nothing to do with black kids needint to sit next to white kids to succeed but @westvilleman and @Wooster Squared know that but ignore the research and data on integration in favor of trolling. (Yes, everyone should read Nikole Hannah-Jones and the research she regularly cites.)

(2) @westville man: I am absolutely worried about those white kids going to segregated schools in North Haven, Guilford, Wilton, Woodbridge, etc. I cannot fathom, in the year 2019, that families with choices would send their kids to segregated schools. I mean, honestly, I routinely wonder what the heck those parents are thinking. Everyone, including white children, learns better in diverse environments. I worry about the kids whose parents made that choice and who are then "educated" in nearly 100% white school buildings. The state ought to change the statutory definition of racial isolation, both for the purposes of the magnet funding law and the racial imbalance plan.

(3) All that said, it's hard to disagree with Ed Joyner on the narrow point that chasing the kids whose parents have embraced segregation over in Madison or whatever is a fool's errand. Magnet schools are a less-than-ideal method for pursuing integration.

(4) We need to come up with better methods for pursuing integration that places some, if not all, of the onus on well-resourced, dysfunctionally white suburban communities.

"trolling" Politics 101??

"I mean, honestly, I routinely wonder what the heck those parents are thinking."

You're naivete is showing.... Try talking to a few of them. If you're white, they will tell you.

@westville man

The notion that people who are pro-integration believe that the goal is "sitting next to white children" are deliberately ignoring the actual arguments in favor of integration. Yes, deliberately and, yes, that's trolling.

I'm reading some very innocent and naive comments in this thread. They can't be written by any teachers in NH.
If you knew the level of violence in some of our magnet schools your head would spin around. You have no idea of the numerous calls for police cars and ambulances to tend to the victims of student violence.
One male first grade teacher was sent to the hospital on 5 separate occasions after attacks by his first grade students. One time a first grader shoved him down a flight of stairs. Students were routinely leaving on stretchers after brutal beatdowns.
Even the Principal was attacked and injured and then left in an ambulance never to return to the school.
In fact a Pre-K student was also the victim of predatory behavior by a middle school student.
How come you don't know any of this ? It's because the Superintendent's office had a gag order on teachers preventing them to talk about all the violence under penalty of being fired.
That's why parents took their children out of NH. They were expecting an great educational experience at one of our "wonderful "magnet schools.
Instead they got a nice hospital bill from the local emergency room.
Not to even mention the widespread destruction and vandalism of school property especially bathrooms that are trashed on a daily basis.
All the money spent on fancy curriculums and other badly needed resources won't help one bit if the school and downtown leadership refuse to make our schools safe and continue to hide the real truth from the public. All the social justice in the world won't fix the problems of leadership that sticks it's collective head in the sand.
That's what parents who pulled their children out of NH will tell you if you really want to know.
How do I know all of this ? Simple deduction Watson. I'm a teacher as if you couldn't guess.

Politics- nice re-characterization. We don't agree and that's fine.

I take issue with Dr. Joyner and others who suggest that suburbanites want to be racially isolated. Sadly, some may, but many would prefer to live and raise their children in a more diverse, urban environment. However, they also insist that their children be educated in well-run, academically challenging schools, something that New Haven consistently fails to provide. Many of those suburbanites are former New Haven residents who made agonizing choices between their love for New Haven and the needs of their children. Families should not have to choose between diversity and quality education, but New Haven forces many to do so. This is not the fault of the children or the color of their skin, but a systemic failure on the part of NHPS leadership. Imagine if we'd spent $1.7 billion on teachers and textbooks instead of funneling it to politically connected construction contractors.

@Westville voter

There are wonderful schools and teachers in New Haven. My family loves our school (not Hooker, not Edgewood, not Nathan Hale). I think the families you're describing are not trying hard enough to find what they purport to be looking for (diversity and quality and in New Haven). The white flighters I know did a quick greatschools.com search and went running or were told by a fellow white parent "Hooker or bust" and chose bust (or Guilford or whatever). They could have enjoyed a fabulous education and done right by the idea that schools are a public good in which they could have invested their time and energies. Instead, we're (and they're) all worse off for their choice to flee.

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/school_segregation_nikole_hannah-jones/

Westvilleman, I did read Sheff in its entirety. The court held that "the elimination of racial isolation in the schools promotes the attainment of equal educational opportunity and is beneficial to all students, both black and white." Sheff v. O'Neill, 238 Conn. 1, 34 (1996). The court also held that "it Is crucial for a democratic society to provide ALL of its schoolchildren with fair access to an unsegregated education." ibid at 43 (emphasis added). If you can find language in Sheff that says "black students can only learn when seated next to white students" I will buy you lunch. And the debate on the bill that created the magnet school program discussed the benefits of desegregation for white, as well African-American and Hispanic students. I was on legislative staff at the time; it was a memorable, although long, debate.

And Politics 101 is not the only person concerned about white isolation. Kids in school today will live in a society where no racial/ethnic group constitutes a majority. It is in their interest (and ours) that they go to diverse schools.

A couple of final points. Nowhere in my posts did I say integration wasn't a worthy goal. But you can't "legislate" racism, especially covert racism, away. That is why you have Brown versus Board of Education in the 50s and the initial Sheff decision in the 90s followed by additional lawsuits to enforce it.
Kevin, of course the Supreme Court didn't say that Black kids could only learn by sitting next to white kids. And cherry picking a couple of sentences from the decision doesn't erase the numerous references and implications that racial isolation was hurting mainly one group – children of color. I challenge people to read the entire decision and tell me differently.
Whites generally lack the sophistication and knowledge on race relations to understand it; and the courage to admit we are the major part of the problem.

I began teaching at Winchester Community School, which is now Wexler-Grant School. I would put the emphasis on "Community School" because it was a school that served the immediate community and, most importantly, the school was open 6-1/2 days a week, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and it had a regularly meeting group that was called the School-Community Council, which was comprised of the principal, faculty and staff, and community representatives.

The school served its community very well, offering programs and activities suitable for children, young adults, adults and the elderly. Offerings included GED classes, exercise programs, open gym, tutoring, crafts and many others. There was a bond between school and community; there was a bond between parents and faculty and staff.

The only problems were: a) the school enrollment was 99.9% African-American because the overwhelming majority of our students came from the high and low- rise buildings of Elm Haven Projects; b) these projects were sub-standard housing, especially the high-rise buildings and need to be replaced; and, c) the perception that majority black schools, by virtue of de facto segregation, were sub-standard.

The claim of the school being sub-standard was not accurate as the School-Community Council, which was active and activist, would not have tolerated it. Integration of our schools became the law of the land; thus, Winchester School , the community school, became a thing of the past.

We may not have done everything right in the past, and I am not one to look at the past nostalgically and state that times were good back then; however, we did do some things well back then and community schools was one of them.

Connecticut used to pride itself on local control of schools. We have ceded that control to the Connecticut State D.O. E. in pursuit of dollars with many strings attached; many of those strings have nothing to do with improving what goes on in each classroom, where "the rubber meets the road."

Of course black children can learn academic content without sitting next to white children; that is not what it's about.

All children learn valuable, sometimes intangible, lessons by interacting with students and teachers of many different races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, languages, and economic resources.

One has only to read the comments by Fairfield County suburbanites on the tepid redistricting efforts to see how racial isolation nurtures fear and ignorance.

I agree with the idea that racially isolated suburban schools should receive similar penalties for failing to meet state integration goals, but there is a sort of historical path-dependence we're overlooking. The old busing model burdened urban children, mostly black and brown, by asking them to endure long bus rides to unfamiliar schools. The magnet model flips that around and asks the suburban children to take on the inconvenience.

Solutions to the current magnet problems might include: expanding the definition of diversity beyond black-white to include more racial, ethnic and linguistic groups plus economic factors; aligning the criteria for admission with the criteria for evaluation (either both are diversity-based, or the urban-suburban ratio is good enough); instituting neighborhood admissions preference for magnets; shoring up neighborhood schools; hiring and retaining diverse faculty and staff in all schools; and better funding overall including redirecting suburban magnet students' ECS allotment to their host districts.

Ending the program entirely would be short-sighted.

Jill the Pill-Do you live in New Haven?
Why would it be short sighted to get rid of a program that DOES NOT benefit the majority of New Haven families? Wouldn't it make more sense to build our neighborhood schools and communities so they are desirable to people of all colors, shapes, sizes? Instead we are educating suburban kids, most of whom have plenty of quality learning opportunities right in their own backyard.

I hope that the Board of Education, or in partnership with another community group, will provide opportunity for this topic to be discussed much more. How Sheff vs O'Niell has played out is not the end point that was ever imagined. The state has consistently undermined and underfunded the schools and the lawsuit has been ongoing. That said, the way it is working doesn't seem to be working. As a white parent in New Haven, I generally resent the white people that come into our city for the free pre-k and stick around for a few years of being delighted by diverse education before they whip metrics out, with always racist underpinnings, and assess the schools as not good enough for their kids. But I am in agreement that moving bodies shouldn't be on people of color. With the scarcity of pre-k spots, woeful school funding, inadequately staffed schools, and the lack of faith in our current superintendent, there seems lttle solid ground on which to talk about the many embedded issues.

newhavenishome -- thank you for your well articulated points. Your 3rd point matches those of our family exactly. Sadly with the completely botched and failed school lottery and the dismal waitlist position we are now in, our family is on the housing market to leave New Haven where we have lived for several decades. Our son would much prefer to go to a city school than a suburban school but we have to be assured that he will get a solid education too so it might be off to the suburbs for us.

The conclusory references to "quality" are telling.

Westville man, there is no logical connection between saying (as the Sheff decision does) that racial isolation is primarily hurting children of color and saying that "the Sheff decision is based on the racist premise that children of color can only learn by sitting next to white kids." Among other things, racial isolation affects resource allocation. So long as (1) the substantial majority of African-American and Hispanic kids go to overwhelmingly non-white urban schools and (2) a substantial majority of legislators represent non-urban towns, the latter are not going to be overly concerned about the former. Of course this is unjust, and there are some suburban legislators who care about urban school kids. But it is a structural reality.

@politics 101
Your spirited defense of NHPS is laudable, but misguided. My children attended New Haven schools. I have never checked out sites like greatschools.com. I base my criticisms on our actual experiences. While my children benefited from a diverse environment, they also suffered from classrooms without permanent teachers, or even textbooks, from an outdated and incoherent curriculum, and from astonishingly low academic standards. Principals and administrators are indifferent to concerns parents raise about such issues. Consequently, we had to teach our children multiplication because their school did not do so. We had to teach them to spell because their school did not do so. Sadly, this all happened at one of the purportedly good schools. Rather than castigating those who eventually extract their children from badly run schools, I suggest that you focus your ire on those who run schools badly. There is a whole building full of such people at 54 Meadow Street.

I believe the deal with eh state was that testate would pay 100% of magnet school construction costs in return for the BoE's promise to operate the schools as inter-district magnets for twenty years. Many, if not most, of the schools should be approaching that mark. The BoE could operate them as regular district schools at will, but wouldn't get the extra funds that are supposed to attract white students.
If the BoE really wanted to attract higher performing students to its magnets, it could stop the lottery and have a selective admissions process, like the integrated The Sound School, or NYC's selective high schools (Bronx High School for Science, High School for the Performing Arts, etc.). Parents with choices aren't seeking all-white schools, but schools with high-achieving student bodies. That's why families will select Guilford over Branford, or send their kids to Hopkins or Choate. Test scores, not racial make-up, drives parents of all ethnicities from New Haven, West Haven,etc. to Guilford, Amity, and the like.

Westville Voter --- YES!!!! Totally agree!!!! We had to pull our oldest son out of NHPS to Hopkins because as a TAG student he had almost no attention from any teachers in the 7 years he was in NHPS and even in one of the best schools in NHPS. The response was always "you're a good kid who can already do these things so you'll take care of yourself." Even though he earned all As in NHPS when we got into another environment outside of NHPS we realized he was more than 1 year behind in math. Whenever we've tried to have systematic change discussions and to share no-cost ideas from other districts around the country, we've been called elitists by school leaders and quickly dismissed.

NHPS offers very little and even animosity to its most talented students much to the benefit of the private schools, suburban schools and unfortunately to the overall, long-term detriment of NHPS.

1644, I suspect you know that NYC's selective high schools have generated a lot of flack because they enroll virtually no African-American or Hispanic students. I suspect the problem there is the single test the schools use to admit students, rather than being selective per se.

N5 -- Your assessment of the issue your child faced is correct. Often teachers are so busy trying to deal with special needs students with learning disabilities. Some of these students disrupt class by fighting with other students or storm out of the room trashing bulletin board displays and throwing garbage cans around.
Unfortunately the learning process is often ruined by students that have little control over their emotions. Plus they are smart enough to know that they won't be properly disciplined for their actions.
The Tag students and the other students at the top of their class always suffer because teachers are dealing with problems that demand immediate attention.
Smaller cooperative groups or learning centers in classrooms can help with keeping all students engaged and schools are doing a much better job using alternative approaches to learning.
Your complaint that after leaving NH and going to another school system you found out your child was behind other students in math or reading is all too common.
Sadly I've heard it before.
I've even heard it from NH teachers that had to pull their children out of NH for various reasons and only then found out their kids were years behind in math and reading skills.
But to their credit ,even in turbulent times with many teachers demoralized during this Birks debacle, NH still has great teachers dedicated to providing the best education they can to their students.

The experiences described here simply aren't consistent with my own. My kids learned multiplication at the same grade level I did in my fancy suburban district in the tri-state area. They are strong in math and when I've requested attention to the math level they're at, not to race ahead but just so they don't get bored, they've gotten it. No one has ever accused me of elitism or anything like it.

101: Great to hear that your children are getting a good education in NH.
There are plenty of great teachers in NH doing wonderful work with their students. Remarkable in fact considering all the issues they have to contend with.