Report: Deck still stacked against blacks
More than 50 years after landmark school desegregation case Brown vs. the Board of Education, a study by Massachusetts-based Schott Foundation reveals the deck is still stacked for minority students.
The study, "Given Half a Chance: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education for Black Males," found districts with a high percentage of black students educate white students more effectively than black and Hispanic peers, particularly black male students.
The report, which ranked each state and major city's success at educating black male students, found a whopping 42 percent gap in graduation rates between black and white male students in Illinois. The national average found a 28 percent gap.
A majority of states, the study found, are not only over-classifying black students as mentally retarded, but under-classifying other black students as gifted and talented. These, plus a disproportionate number of school suspensions and expulsions combine to reduce educational opportunities for black students, particularly black male students.
The release of the study coincided closely with Rainbow PUSH Coalition's appearance at Monday's school board meeting, expressing concerns about the number of Elgin Area School District U-46 mobile classrooms being used in schools with high minority populations.
"We feel that the use of these mobile classrooms segregate our children from the general student body," Lenora Scruggs, vice president of Rainbow PUSH's Northwest Suburban Chapter, told the board. Additionally, Scruggs said, the mobiles put students in greater danger if there were an emergency at the schools.
Coalition members requested that they be allowed to tour several schools, including Coleman, Creekside, Highland, Otter Creek and Sheridan elementary schools; Larsen and Kenyon Woods middle schools and Larkin and South Elgin high schools.
Members of U-46's African-American Parents group have expressed concerns to the coalition about mobile classrooms and educational equality in the district for the past year, Chapter President the Rev. Walter Blalark said.
"We want to know how socioeconomic backgrounds are affecting education," Blalark said.
Members of the coalition met with Chief Financial Officer John Prince on Monday, Blalark said.
Prince said "it shouldn't be an issue" allowing Rainbow PUSH Coalition members to tour the schools. "We're just looking at the logistics of when," he said.
After touring the requested schools, the coalition hopes to do a comparative study of campus environments, Blalark said.
Crowding in schools with minority populations is a pillar of the racial discrimination lawsuit pending against the district.
Twenty-two of the 53 U-46 schools feature mobile classrooms this school year. Of those 22, 19 of them feature minority populations of 50 percent or more.
Facts and figures tell one tale. A real side- by-side comparison of classroom conditions among district schools could very well tell another.
It's hard to predict what the Coalition's tour will find in a few weeks.
But knowing an outside group is pushing to ensure a level playing field for area students is reassuring; especially after tangible evidence that the deck is still stacked.