KCRag Forum

So whats the complaint?

johnmatrix wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 4:35 pm So whats the complaint?

students from affluent white families taking slots away from students from lower income minority families

nomadcowatbk wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 11:37 am

johnmatrix wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 4:35 pm So whats the complaint?

students from affluent white families taking slots away from students from lower income minority families

I don’t think the complaint is white specific. The influx of other, non-black(Latino/Hispanic) minorities is part of their complaint

normalthings wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 11:40 am

nomadcowatbk wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 11:37 am

johnmatrix wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 4:35 pm So whats the complaint?

students from affluent white families taking slots away from students from lower income minority families

Isn’t the influx of other, non-black(Latino/Hispanic) minorities part of the complaint as well?

Seems pretty racist. No thanks we've already been through this.

My prediction is that it will continue to see a decrease in its African American population until the school board feels the heat from both sides and finally reopens Southwest HS.

Minorities can be racist about/to other minorities.

I live in a mixed neighborhood. I know Latino families who will not help an African-American family, or person, and are suspicious of them if they move on the block. No friendly welcomes, etc. One of my Latino neighbors complains to me about his new white neighbor--on his other side--being racist to him when he extended a friendly welcome when he bought the house. Yet, my Latino neighbor wouldn't speak to/or help a single, black woman who lived on across the street. I know because I would help her on occasion, and she mentioned it.

The neighborhood is strange that way. In fact, my Latino neighbors on the block have been very friendly to me and helpful. Yet, there are other white families who have never spoken or waved to me (I'm white). I've owned my home for more than 10 years, and am regularly outside. I keep up my house and yard and give away stuff I grow in my garden to neighbors, so I'm not some rental house dweller that causes trouble.

We have a Vietnamese man who owns a house across the street, who lived here before I bought. I asked my Latino neighbor why he never waves, or speaks to me. My Latino neighbor says: "Don't know. I've never talked to him." My neighbor has owned his house for 20 years.

It gets ridiculous at times dealing with this stuff.

It's also problematic dealing with things like crime prevention. We need neighbors to cooperate. Harder if they will not speak to each other, or report someone breaking into their neighbor's house because of race issues.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 12:52 pm My prediction is that it will continue to see a decrease in its African American population until the school board feels the heat from both sides and finally reopens Southwest HS.

if they open it to the whole district as a selective school, there could be complaints about it taking the higher achieving black students from Lincoln

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 12:52 pm My prediction is that it will continue to see a decrease in its African American population until the school board feels the heat from both sides and finally reopens Southwest HS.

This is pretty interesting. In terms of local racial history, we couldn't be talking about two schools further apart. If you read The Call you'll know that Southwest and the prospect of white students leaving for a new high school there is viewed as an existential threat to Lincoln. But the calculus changes if (a) opening Southwest viewed as a way to boost African American attendance at Lincoln, or (b) the 15% white enrollment number changes a few minds about what reopening Southwest might actually mean.

chaglang wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 8:06 am

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 12:52 pm My prediction is that it will continue to see a decrease in its African American population until the school board feels the heat from both sides and finally reopens Southwest HS.

This is pretty interesting. In terms of local racial history, we couldn't be talking about two schools further apart. If you read The Call you'll know that Southwest and the prospect of white students leaving for a new high school there is viewed as an existential threat to Lincoln. But the calculus changes if (a) opening Southwest viewed as a way to boost African American attendance at Lincoln, or (b) the 15% white enrollment number changes a few minds about what reopening Southwest might actually mean.

Unfortunately, I think it leads to choiced segregation with one black HS and one white. History is totally different than demographic breakdown. Just because there are more from other races shouldn’t cause appreciation of the history of the school to change. Of course, I think Southwest needs to be opened as well. Will be a tight walk for the superintendent.

The lottery system is going to create problems as long as it exists because it encourages false ownership of a community resource

NKC schools is neighborhood based and it's maintained it's graduation rate as the district has grown more diverse. Changes to boundaries are based on the overall area population and keeping neighborhoods together, not how white or black or hispanic it is.

There's been a demand for less segregation and when a school suddenly gets there it's a big deal.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 10:21 amJust because there are more from other races shouldn’t cause appreciation of the history of the school to change.

Absolutely, but it does change the perception of ownership, which from the article is clearly problematic for the superintendent.

chaglang wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 2:52 pm

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 10:21 amJust because there are more from other races shouldn’t cause appreciation of the history of the school to change.

Absolutely, but it does change the perception of ownership, which from the article is clearly problematic for the superintendent.

Yes, the superintendent is right in the middle. The Southwest families want to school close to their white neighborhoods and the east side wants a majority African American Lincoln. I’d be a bit worried if I were him.

If you did a single lottery that randomly assigned students to one of the two schools, you could at least get Southwest open and minimize the risk of resegregating. But it wouldn't address the ownership issue at Lincoln or the proximity issue at SW. And people would probably freak out.

For many neighborhoods, local schools also serve as community centers / town squares for the residents. That's the ownership thing. That's why parents get so upset when their neighborhood school is shut down--even if it's a failing school.

Absolutely. It’s also a hassle when your kids go to school on the other side of town and you have to go there for events, etc. Lincoln is obviously more complicated due to its having been the city’s African-American high school. A lot of families still have ties to that era of the school’s history.

It is long past time for the KCMSD to stop quarreling with half of its population. One solution: let neighborhoods vote to join abutting districts. Brookside could join the Center district and re-open Southwest as another high school in that district. Old Northeast could join the Independence district, etc.

Or the residents clamoring to re-open Southwest as a 'choice' school could instead utilize their actual neighborhood high school, Southeast.

The Southwest argument that parents want a choice school that also somehow functions as a neighborhood school rings false. Until the Country Club/Brookside/Waldo community begins to utilize their existing neighborhood school choices, which are closer than Lincoln, they need to stop using this 'neighborhood school' argument. It's really about wanting an additional IB high school in an affluent neighborhood, which will only reinforce segregation.

It's pretty easy to look at a map and see that Southeast high school is 2.5 miles from the center of Brookside. That is infinitely closer than Lincoln (7 miles) or Rockhurst (5 miles) Use your neighborhood school - show that you have that community support - and then maybe the district can re-open resources that your community abandoned decades ago. There's a reason that the two closed high schools are west of Troost - and that in the entire city, there are only three neighborhood schools west of Oak Street (Four west of Troost, and only two if you take KCMO from 31st Street to 75th)

https://www.kcpublicschools.org/Page/4620

Maybe they just want an IB high school close to home?

in KC terms, Lincoln being a 15 minute drive away IS close to home, lol.

Southeast may be a neighborhood school, but it's the Swope Park neighborhood, not Brookside.

A neighborhood school means the kids can walk there. Southwest HS is clearly the neighborhood high school for Brookside (and it was that historically).

The Kansas City Missouri School Board has been a disaster for half of a century. Failed schools, failed people. Best option: dissolve the KCMSD and let each neighborhood build their own schools with local control.