Are Topeka schools denying diversity?
7:15 p.m. Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Topeka schools are re-evaluating where your kids can go to school. Last spring, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to use race as a factor when assigning kids to schools, even if the policy tries to improve diversity. It's been called everything from a step back, to the complete reversal of the Brown versus Board decision. The Supreme Court's latest ruling about transfer policies could make many Topeka schools lose a lot of their diversity.
Currently, Highland Park High School is the most racially diverse high school in USD 501. It is almost equally divided between white, black and Hispanic students. Senior Ashley Ashlock loves that about her school.
"We have like, a lot of different kinds of cultures and you get to learn a lot about different types of cultures," she said. "I mean, you can go here and watch the Hispanic club do a performance or something and you can learn a lot about that culture."
The cultural learnings of students at Highland Park and other local schools could be coming to an end. In 1993, Highland Park educated 18 percent of whites enrolled in USD 501. Now that's down to just 13 percent. The school board used to be able to improve diversity in schools through a transfer policy. A Black or Hispanic student at Highland Park could transfer to Topeka West and improve diversity there, while a white student from Topeka West could do the same, but that will likely change.
Last spring, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to use race as a factor when assigning kids to schools, even if the policy tries to improve diversity. The 1954 Brown versus Board of Education case eliminated segregation in public schools and held the promise of an equal society. But the very city that headlined the landmark decision is still struggling to keep the promise.
Learn more
The Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education Web site offers information and the history of this groundbreaking ruling. It can be accessed at www.nps.gov/brvb/.
"Obviously the promise of the Brown decision of the 1950's has not been fulfilled in American Society," said Dennis Vasquez, the superintendent of the Brown v. Board historical site.
At the site, kids learn why the "Separate but Equal" doctrine should no longer apply, but the real world presents a different picture.
Take Topeka West and Highland Park.
They are separated by just five and a half miles, but their test scores couldn't be further apart. Since the beginning of No Child Left Behind in 2001, Highland Park has not met Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP standards. Topeka West has met them every year but one. With 1/3 of minorities enrolled in Topeka Public Schools attending Highland Park, an entire third of our town's minority students are not meeting standards.
However, Highland Park is making gains. The number of juniors who've passed the reading test has gone from 20 to 58 percent. In 2004, 15 percent of the sophomore's were proficient in math. Now it's 30 percent. Principal Dale Cushinberry says being viewed as underachievers helped motivate his kids.
"Our best rationale for our test scores going up, success with sports programs etc, is that our kids feel that it is them against the world," he said.
Still, if Highland Park doesn't begin to meet AYP standards, it could lose its accreditation.
At the Brown Historic site, displays teach children about life before and after the decision, yet now it comes with an important foot note. Across the nation, many schools are less integrated than they were in the 80's and the Court's decision will likely accelerate that trend.
"Diversity does provide strength," Vasquez said. "It also provides challenges, maybe some interesting debates, but it is a positive thing."
One that is slowly disappearing from schools, schools that are still largely separate, with test scores far from equal.
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