RALEIGH -- Several years ago, the Wake Education Partnership and its partners conducted interviews and solicited written recommendations regarding the community's expectations for its public schools. The responses were analyzed by a third party to minimize bias. The study was part of our effort to support the Wake school board and county commissioners in the development of measurable goals for the district, often called Goal 2003. Those findings speak to current debate about diversity.
The study found that citizens clearly valued diversity as a component of successful schools, but that value was balanced against a desire by almost half of those responding for stability in student assignment and for the option of attending schools close to home. The current battle over diversity appears to be little more than a more public expression of that underlying conflict between two important desires: stability and healthy, balanced schools.
The conflict is nothing new for our community, but it has been intensified by the political process. Like many people, the citizens of Wake County have values that are often at odds with one another.
So what about the experience of other communities in our state that have retreated from diversity as a value in their public schools? The N.C. New Schools Project has forged ties with most of the state's school districts, some of which have changed policies to emphasize proximity to neighborhoods over diversity. The New Schools Project seeks to support teachers and administrators in the creation of innovative approaches to secondary education that graduate all students well prepared for the next step.
The experience of these schools provides strong evidence that schools overwhelmed by poverty as a result of neighborhood assignment practices cannot easily retain a highly skilled faculty. These schools often provide a breeding ground for gangs and other social ills highly correlated with poverty. In one high school located in a largely poor and minority community, highly qualified teachers, some of whom had been recruited by efforts to bring top talent into the public schools, left after just one semester when student behavior seemed beyond control.
In districts where the New Schools Project has sought to support excellence in schools that have been highly impacted by poverty, a consistent pattern also emerges in which promises by the local boards of education to provide "equity" funding - extra dollars intended to compensate for high concentrations of poverty - quickly wane under the weight of local political and budgetary pressure.
So the debate in Wake County must return to the practical reality of the ongoing struggle between achieving and maintaining diversity in the schools and finding workable strategies that help satisfy concerns about proximity. Even if proponents of diversity were to tilt the school board in the next election, the struggle would continue. And many view the current conflict as a monumental distraction from a focus on the needs of students, teachers and the entire community for a concerted approach to promote excellence in the schools. Still, the evidence from elsewhere is clear that Wake's leaders will only diminish the community and its schools if they ignore race and class in whatever approach they adopt.
Now is the time for maturity among the contestants in this debate, as the conflict between our values will be with us always. Securing a long-term solution that accommodates both needs will allow the community to return its focus to student achievement and support for excellence among teachers.
Do we really want to commit countless funds and hours in the next several years to partisan school board elections - or to achieving a clear focus on what is required to succeed with all students? It's a choice that will affect our children and our community for years to come.
Tony Habit is the president of the N.C. New Schools Project and former president of the Wake Education Partnership.
