Last week, the Davis Enterprise reported on a large audience of more than 250 people who packed in at Harper Junior High, as the school board discussed changes to two South Davis elementary schools.
Of particular note is Montgomery Elementary, which as Associate Superintendent Clark Bryant noted, while the school ranks as a high-performing school, “we’re not hitting (that) mark for all our students, and that is not an issue just for Montgomery Elementary, but district wide.”
While the achievement gap is a persistent district-wide issue in Davis, the problems at Montgomery are magnified by a number of trends.
What we see is, as Clark Bryant outlined, the achievement statistics show that white students at Montgomery are scoring over 900 points on the API on average, but Latino students and students from families with low socioeconomic status (SES) score 200 points lower as a group.
The Enterprise reported: “That trend – often described as the “achievement gap” – is present at every school in the Davis district. But several factors have caused the gap to stand out in sharper relief at Montgomery, moving that school into Program Improvement status under federal No Child Left Behind legislation several years ago.”
Overall, the enrollment at Montgomery Elementary has declined from a high of 508 in 2006-07 to a low 407 in 2010-11.
Those changes in enrollment happen to coincide with the district’s decision to close Valley Oak Elementary.
The Enterprise reports: “Those factors include a declining white student population and a rising Latino population in the Montgomery attendance area, reinforced by boundary changes after the closure of Valley Oak Elementary a few years ago.”
But it is not just the influx of Latino students, but the flight of white students. What we see, then, is that while white students’ enrollment has declined, there has been a near 50% rise in the Latino enrollment at Montgomery.
Reports the Enterprise: “Some white students also leave Montgomery beginning in fourth grade to attend GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) or Spanish Immersion classes at other campuses. Montgomery hosts Spanish Immersion only in grades K-3.”
However, why would that have changed so markedly following the closure of Valley Oak, to coincide with the rise of students of Latino and disadvantaged socioeconomic background coming from the Valley Oak area?
The result of these demographic shifts have made Montgomery Elementary the school with the largest percent of low SES students in the district, by a huge margin.
Writes the Enterprise, “[Clark] Bryant outlined a range of options for Montgomery, including expanding Spanish Immersion to grades K-6, starting a “dual immersion” (Spanish and English) program or bringing in a GATE strand.”
The report continues, “Another option would divide enrollment between Montgomery and Pioneer by grade rather than by neighborhood.”
However, as other reports suggest, those might not be the problems.
The Enterprise reports that Librarian Nora Brazil, who works at both schools, and Montgomery teacher Cheri Burau read a statement signed by Montgomery staff saying, “Our primary concern is segregation, and how different this school’s enrollment looks from the rest of the district. Existing district policies have led to unintentional inequality.”
The statement continued, noting that Montgomery is “a high-ranking school (academically) when compared to others with similar populations … an imbalanced school population is never in the best interest of the community. … The status quo is unacceptable, we implore you as board members to take action.”
Moreover, the Enterprise reports that a teacher at Pioneer, Raeth Snyder, suggested any changes at Montgomery would impact other campuses.
“When you move one group of students it affects the whole district,” Raeth Snyder said. “As more kids are pulled out of the general education program, you are left with a concentrated population in general ed that may have a different type of life experience or learning challenges than those students that go into special programs.”
Adrienne Meredith, who serves on the South Davis Enrollment Committee, said “The district should mix students from high-income and low-income schools,” in accordance with federal civil rights law. Ms. Meredeth said that while such changes might “be controversial in our community,” she supports “changes that are in accord with federal diversity guidance.”
Underscoring perhaps the true nature of the problem, the president of the Pioneer PTA suggested that a poll of Pioneer parents showed only 11 percent support of the idea of merging and splitting by grade, while 65% would consider leaving the school if that were the solution.
That poll makes it very clear what this is about. The 1970s are apparently not over. We know what this is about, the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos and other lower SES Students.
The school district can do research, as Superintendent Winfred Roberson was instructed to do, they can look into expanding dual immersion programs, but this is not about other schools providing programs that Montgomery does not.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
“That poll makes it very clear what this is about. The 1970s are apparently not over. We know what this is about, the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos and other lower SES Students.”
No, I would say it’s about parents wanting the best education their children can get. If classrooms are purposely merged with lower performing students that tends to lower the standards (dumb down) of the program.
Jeff Hudson, Davis Enterprise, 3/9/12:South Davis parents sound off on schools ([url]http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/south-davis-parents-sound-off-on-schools/[/url])
rusty49: [i]No, I would say it’s about parents wanting the best education their children can get. If classrooms are purposely merged with lower performing students that tends to lower the standards (dumb down) of the program.[/i]
You can’t “dumb down” the standards because they are set by standardized testing. The data/graphs show that the performance of white students on standardized tests has not declined as the number of latino, ELL, and low SES students increased. What has happened is that the label of “program improvement” on Montgomery has given it a stigma, mainly because the district is required to offer families the choice of going to a “higher performing” school (one with higher overall standardized test scores) because Montgomery is in program improvement. This is a case example of what is wrong with NCLB.
She added that “when you have 14 students who are English learners in a classroom and you are trying to teach the whole class, it is an uphill struggle. Our teachers are wonderful, but their plates are so full. The school cannot continue the way it is.”
Read the quote from the Enterprise article, don’t you think that would have a dumbing down affect on any classroom?
Apparently the Enterprise didn’t print the most racist comments made, I’m trying to get a copy of the tape.
rusty49: [i]Read the quote from the Enterprise article, don’t you think that would have a dumbing down affect on any classroom?[/i]
If you’re using standardized test scores to define educational performance, then those tests show that white students’ scores are not declining. EL students get other instructional help in addition to the regular classroom teacher.
“Apparently the Enterprise didn’t print the most racist comments made, I’m trying to get a copy of the tape.”
There’s always going to be a few racists in any walk of life. But to paint all of South Davis with a broad brush “The 1970s are apparently not over. We know what this is about, the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos and other lower SES Students” is taking it way too far.
This is what comes from thinking we can create change locally and a town at a time– the “trickle over” approach. It doesn’t work. The much freer-for-some marketplace runs everything including local government priorities. Without broad-based political campaigns to promote better concepts of how society should work, the market will win the day every day.
“Smart growth” ends up being stale green lipstick on the same old nimby pig.
Schools capacity and neighborhoods naturally get out of balance when neighborhoods are developed and constructed as whole subdivisions, the profit maximizing approach for developers and construction corporations.
People of the same age cohort tend to move in, stay and age. So the school population expands and contracts a lot because there is a lack of age diversity.
[quote]No, I would say it’s about parents wanting the best education their children can get. If classrooms are purposely merged with lower performing students that tends to lower the standards (dumb down) of the program.[/quote]
I agree. Take a look at San Francisco where the majority of white parents send their children to private school and many more leave the City. Why is it racist to want the best education for your children? [FYI My child (who is in public school in Davis) is mixed race.]
wdf1…my daughter is a high school English teacher down in the Fresno area. She usually has many non-English speaking or ESL students in her classes. She often has stated to me that she feels for the smarter students in her class as she can’t push the class to a higher degree than she would like because it would leave the lower performing students even farther behind. So, as you state, the higher performing students scores haven’t declined but they might have been higher if they weren’t held back by lower performing students’ drag on their classrooms.
rusty49
“Read the quote from the Enterprise article, don’t you think that would have a dumbing down affect on any classroom? “
Not necessarily. What this assumption is based on is that all students will be affected in the same way by changes. This is demonstrably not true.
There are many lessons to be learned in school. Some are purely academic. Some are about coping skills. Some are about the value of competition, while others are about the value of collaboration. My daughter was one of the top performers in one of her elementary school classes and probably would have been bored had the teacher not decided it play to my daughters strengths. In addition to having my daughter do more advanced work for individual evaluation ( the traditional approach to keeping the advanced busy) she also challenged my daughter to lead group projects, help other students and help with project and lesson plan design and implementation. A win-win solution. I think it is the perception, not the reality of the inevitability of inferiority that is the problem here.
[quote]We know what this is about, the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos and other lower SES Students.[/quote]
I strongly disagree w this conclusion. This is about parents wanting the best education for their children, which they feel cannot be had at Marguerite Montgomery, a school so low performing it has been moved into Program Improvement status. If Marguerite Montgomery were instead a high performing school full of Latinos, my guess is that white families would send their kids there in a heartbeat.
[quote]However, why would that have changed so markedly following the closure of Valley Oak, to coincide with the rise of students of Latino and disadvantaged socioeconomic background coming from the Valley Oak area?[/quote]
Let’s face it – most likely this is a direct result of the DJUSD’s foolish decision to close Valley Oak, which had the most successful ESL program in the city. And now the school district is suffering the consequences of their very poor decision – it has come home to roost…
Pour money into Margarite Montgomery – give it a science teacher, a music teacher, a computer teacher, an art teacher, a full time librarian, a PE teacher, even if you have to pull resources from Pioneer, so that the regular classroom teachers have time to work with the ESL kids and not at the expense of other kids in the classroom. Make this school attractive to white parents with extra bells and whistles. Don’t think that having the same resources as Pioneer is enough. Montgomery should have more to level the playing field.
This is not the first time that I have run into veiled racism and examples of elitism from the Pioneer population. The parents bring these veiled attitudes into the Junior Highs and eventually the High School and is a dirty little secret of the Davis community.
“Underscoring perhaps the true nature of the problem, the president of the Pioneer PTA suggested that a poll of Pioneer parents showed only 11 percent support of the idea of merging and splitting by grade, while 65% would consider leaving the school if that were the solution.
That poll makes it very clear what this is about. The 1970s are apparently not over. We know what this is about, the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos and other lower SES Students.”
Wow, could we jump to any other more drastic a conclusion on any less evidence? Do you know anything more about this poll you cite than what you’ve written here? Maybe Don should pull this whole story–this statement is reminiscent of Rich’s observation re. the newest city council candidate.
Shouldn’t you have SOMETHING on which to base a charge of 1970’s style racism beyond a vague, two-question poll report?
[i]Montgomery hosts Spanish Immersion only in grades K-3.[/i]
Expand the program to include grades 4 – 6. The notion that four years out of seven was somehow ‘ok’ is at best misguided. Stating the obvious, all classrooms need to have aides, especially those with more than 20 students. Do that. It seems to me we paid for precisely that level of support by passing C. So why hasn’t the Board made those simple changes?
EM: you’re absolutely right about Valley Oak, although ‘foolish’ is being far too kind.
“There are many lessons to be learned in school…”
Well said, medwoman. Let’s remember that we are talking about ELEMENTARY SCHOOL here where important life “lessons” are learned about community,
collaboration, tolerance and respect for others who are “different”.
[quote]DMG: “Underscoring perhaps the true nature of the problem, the president of the Pioneer PTA suggested that a poll of Pioneer parents showed only 11 percent support of the idea of merging and splitting by grade, while 65% would consider leaving the school if that were the solution.
JustSaying: Shouldn’t you have SOMETHING on which to base a charge of 1970’s style racism beyond a vague, two-question poll report? [/quote]
Parents wanting to pull their kids from a poor performing school that happens to have a lot of Latino students is not proof that the underlying cause for withdrawing their kids from that school is RACISM. The more logical conclusion is the parents pulled their kids from the school bc it was not giving their kids as good an education as they could get elsewhere. What a ridiculous conclusion! That kind of reasoning is by analogy saying if I recoil from a dog bc it smells bad from rolling in a pile of manure, that my reaction must be bc I don’t like dogs rather than I just don’t care for the smell of manure! Geeeeeeeeeeeeze…
Do we completely forget the past?
Trying to mix student populations in order to achieve some idealized ethnic mix has never worked. That is one lesson of the 1970’s.
And in the more recent past, in the 1990’s changing school boundaries and taking students away from their neighborhood schools caused huge outcry. You want to rile people up? Move their kids around.
[i]”the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos”
[/i]
That statement is completely, utterly preposterous, irresponsible, and offensive.
Elaine – 65% said that they would pull their kids if the school configuration was changed so that all K-3 students went to one school and all 4-6 students went to another school. Along with evidence that the 138 white students at Montgomery are high scoring (above 900), what else can we think about this threat. I smell more than just manure.
While the talk of “community,” “collaboration,” “tolerance, and “respect” are nice rhetoric, the bottom line is that so long as NCLB remains the governing standard, and the performance gap between certain demographics and white/middle class demographics remains significant enough to put Montgomery on Program Improvement status, parents will be upset… and have a right to be upset. P.I. creates significant pressures on the faculty and administration, and hurts differentiated instruction.
Spanish immersion is not a remedy, and will be harmful. While Spanish immersion is a useful experience for fluent English speakers to develop Spanish language skills, it is not useful for addressing the core issue: English Language Development, and performance on tests which, no coincidentally, are administered in English.
The funding inequities that are suggested here are imaginary. Montgomery is as well funded as any other local school; it is not on Program Improvement because of shortcomings in science, band, computers, or art. It is on program improvement because a segment of the population is not “proficient” in English, and related skills. If one follows API scores throughout the area, that lack of proficiency is a constant in the API scores at numerous schools, regardless of quality of instruction and efforts at those schools, or attempts at Spanish immersion. That’s not racism; that’s simply factual.
Parents don’t want their children at Program Improvement schools, because the top end of instruction inevitably fails, and the opportunities for their children to enjoy “band, music, computers….” wither and die, as the school progresses through the ranks of PI status, to the point where the only instruction is related to math and reading/writing.
To accuse the parents of “racism” in being upset, is overly simplistic, and unfair.
“Parents wanting to pull their kids from a poor performing school that happens to have a lot of Latino students is not proof that the underlying cause for withdrawing their kids from that school is RACISM. “
Except that it’s not a poor performing school.
And just wait until I get the quotes, even Rusty will admit they are racist. Just wait.
How David describes the school: “…the school ranks as a high-performing school….”
How Elaine describes the school: “…a school so low performing it has been moved into Program Improvement status….”
Who’d say they’d move their kids from David’s Marguerite Montgomery Elementary? Only a bunch of racists, of course.
Who’d say they’d move their kids from Elaine’s Marguerite Montgomery Elementary? Anyone concerned about their kids’ well being, regardless of their race.
wdf1 provides a logical, non-racist alternative reason for parents’ disappointment: “What has happened is that the label of “program improvement” on Montgomery has given it a stigma, mainly because the district is required to offer families the choice of going to a “higher performing” school….”
wdf1’s view offers a foundation for making improvements, while setting up a non-significant racist basis for parent attitudes sets up roadblocks for progress. If you didn’t attend–and feel obligated to track down a tape to find “the most racist comments made”–were you perhaps premature in labeling racism as what this is about?
ERM: [i]Let’s face it – most likely this is a direct result of the DJUSD’s foolish decision to close Valley Oak, which had the most successful ESL program in the city.[/i]
Is this something that you can demonstrate from data, Elaine? I can’t. If Valley Oak were still around, I think it, too, would be in program improvement by now, based on where standardized test scores were in 2008. Most of the staff that worked at Valley Oak is still employed in the district today.
This is just typical of the left to cry racism at every opportunity.
“This is just typical of the left to cry racism at every opportunity. “
I suggest you wait until I get the exact quotes before saying this.
It doesn’t matter what quotes you get, David. 65% of the parents of MM students aren’t racists. I think you have set up an unprovable assertion that you would do well to retract before this goes much further. This has all the makings of a contrived controversy.
Then ensure that opportunities for enrichment do not die at Montgomery. Give extra resources (science, band, art instruction) so that teachers can release students and have time for more small group instruction for ESL students. Make the school a science/art magnet (not as a separate program, but the entire school curriculum) to attract students from other schools. Equal funding just won’t work. The Davis community is paying extra taxes to make sure that enrichment programs do not die in the schools. If Montgomery needs a larger share of the funds to support these programs and also handle its unique student population, I would support this.
Believe me, there is racism and elitism in Davis. It shows up in different ways.
Don: I’m just going to call a spade a spade. I never said I thought 65% of the parents in south Davis are racists. Nor did I report that. In fact, some thing the low SES is larger factor than race.
“the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos”
“That statement is completely, utterly preposterous, irresponsible, and offensive.”
You’re correct on two things, Don, in my opinion. First, in your characterization of such comments. Second, in your decision not to eradicate David’s report and all the comments just because of the preposterousness, irresponsibility and offensiveness involved.
Don’t you think we gain even if the level of discussion is a little low? Even if anyone can see where this conversation is headed–a series of arguments about whether certain comments are really racist–it’s better to have the conversation than to censor it. We all learn, even from offensive chats.
Bravo! Don Shor!
Wow! Does Pioneer School have to be painted with a brush like this? The folks out there have shown a lot of acceptance over the years. Where do you think all the seasonal migrant children from the So. Mace Labor Camps went to school? I would know. My mom taught at Pioneer for many years. Give the Prairie Dogs a break and get your facts straight!
Please David, get us what people said at the meeting – the quotes.
Old Skool: Apparently the demographics have changed a lot down there even in the last four years, look at the graphs above.
Ryan: Working on it.
Ryan Kelly: [i]Pour money into Margarite Montgomery – give it a science teacher, a music teacher, a computer teacher, an art teacher, a full time librarian, a PE teacher…[/i]
Montgomery already has a science teacher, a music teacher, and has as fully staffed a library as any other elementary. I don’t know about computer or art. At this point those kinds of positions/programs tend to be funded more through the individual site. The fundraising ability of the PTO at a given site is also somewhat at issue here, by the way. As MME potentially becomes more concentrated in lower SES students, it becomes more challenging to fundraise the way other elementary campuses might.
By the way, the science teacher, music teacher, and library have secure funds for the next 5 years, thanks to the passage of Measure C.
“Believe me, there is racism and elitism in Davis. It shows up in different ways.”
I believe you, Ryan, and I agree. I also agree with your ideas about jumping in with extra resources the moment school officials see bad results showing up. David, however, has specifically applied the racism/elitism of Davis in a manner that doesn’t apply in any significant way to the problems at this school. ( Overstating racism might even be its own little form of racism.)
One factor not yet mentioned which might be affecting the enrollment of children from wealthy families at Montgomery is the fact that there is a private elementary school, Merryhill, just one block away on Lillard Drive. It would surprise me if most of the children enrolled at Merryhill don’t meet the missing demographic at Montgomery.
[img]http://thevasquezfamily.net/images/merryhill.gif[/img]
Also, it has been mentioned that the closing of Valley Oak somehow added non-white students for Montgomery. However, as I look at the boundary maps ([url]http://www.schoolsiteonline.com/schoolsitelocator/?districtCode=92907[/url]), it appears to me that almost all of the students who would have gone to Valley Oak are now going to Birch Lane or Korematsu. I am not sure if those kids who live in the Olive Drive area ever went to Valley Oak. They do go to Montgomery.
I totally agree with Don Shor. David, I don’t care if you cite a few racist quotes because it doesn’t prove squat. As I stated earlier, there are always going to be a few racists wherever you go, but unless you can provide hundreds of racist quotes for you to infer racism against affluent white families of South Davis is totally out of line.
[quote]Where do you think seasonal migrant children from the So. Mace Labor Camps went to school?[/quote]
Well, the 4-6th graders went to Valley Oak before it closed. Now I believe they go to Montgomery.
“….withdrawing their kids from that school is RACISM. ”
Racism is perhaps not the most accurate description of this phenomenon here.
People tend to come together into neighborhoods and create their own cultural “ghettos” with similar world view and experiences, not necessarily based upon race. Davis is no exception. The attempt to advance diversity, tolerance and respect for the “other” in public education is laudable but raises especially heated passion when it concerns ones elementary school age children and racist remarks can be a simple expletive-like response for some.
[i]”the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos” [/i]
“Some” and “a few” are really useful words. If you want to effect change in this situation, your statement as quoted is not useful.
I assume that the quotes you provide will be accompanied by the income statements of the racists so we know they are, in fact, affluent. We’ll probably just have to guess as to their ethnicities.
And for a little more thought out social engineering. Where do you think the vast majority of the New Harmony children are going to be detailed? That ought to fill the gaps of declining enrollment at Montgomery!!
Rusty: In other words, nevermind the facts, you’ve already made up your mind and a few racists are okay in your worldview. Got it.
One of the interesting things that they say one letter is worth a hundred constituent views – one person bothered to send it but they represent another hundred.
I don’t know how many there are, enough that I got calls from people who were appalled as to what they heard and read. I don’t think you’ll be able to escape this one, but I’d love to watch you try.
“it appears to me that almost all of the students who would have gone to Valley Oak are now going to Birch Lane or Korematsu.”
The district map, if the distance scale is accurate, does suggest that the area that supplied a significant number of students to Valley Oak ES is at least as close if not closer to Montgomery ES than Birch Lane or Korematsu.
This issue was raised in May: [url]http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/schools-news/montgomery-elementary-parents-raise-concerns/[/url]
Students are leaving MM in grade 4 to go to GATE and SI at other schools. Statistics probably show that the majority of those students are white or Asian.
We made various placement decisions with our kids over the years which had entirely to do with what school program was best for each child. The district can move the programs to MM if they want kids to continue in GATE or SI there. I have no idea how Ms. Meredith wishes to achieve her goal of income-mixed schools. Neighborhood schools are basic to school placement and planning. Again, I think some here have forgotten the uproar that we went through in the 1990’s when district boundaries were changed.
Here’s a thought. Perhaps they can create open enrollment at every school in the district, provide transit for all families, and see where parents really want their kids to go.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to escape this one, but I’d love to watch you try.”
LOL, it’s you that’s not going to be able to escape this. It’s like Don Shor stated, “‘Some’ and ‘a few’ are really useful words” and “I assume that the quotes you provide will be accompanied by the income data (perhaps you can request tax returns) of the racists so we know they are, in fact, affluent. We’ll probably just have to guess as to their ethnicities.”
As much as you’d like to to try and prove your assertion I’m sorry but you can’t multiply each qoute or letter by 100.
“Don: I’m just going to call a spade a spade. I never said I thought 65% of the parents in south Davis are racists. Nor did I report that. In fact, some thing (think?) the low SES is larger factor than race.”
“…65% would consider leaving the school if that were the solution. That poll makes it very clear what this is about. The 1970s are apparently not over. We know what this is about, the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos and other lower SES Students.”
Maybe you should take a little more care in the words you choose when raising the specter of “White Flight” and reporting on school parents’ racism.
By tying together “65%” and “the 1970s are apparently not over” and “white families…don’t want their kids to go to school with Latinos,” you make your point clear to everyone.
Now, having been called by Don on such an outrageous claim, you weasel away by twisting your own words. Did you really mean only 62% are racists? Did you really mean that including “lower SES Students” would negate the obvious racist implications or that “lower SES” really is different than race in this situation? You reply to Don by claiming “I never said/reported that,” but you don’t say what you did mean.
Also, I first thought you might not have adequately lived in the 1970s to be harkening back to them, but, then, you come up with an expression I (appropriately) haven’t heard anyone use since that time.
“One of the interesting things that they say one letter is worth a hundred constituent views – one person bothered to send it but they represent another hundred.”
WHO says this? And who cares? Are you really trying to set the stage to claim that for every person who made some obviously (or arguably) racist remark at the meeting is just the tip of the iceberg, confirming there’s yet 100 more racists sneaking around Margarite Montgomery?
Our grandchild didn’t even attend the neighborhood school until junior high. Little did I know (until today) that parent racism (and/or SES-ism) could have been responsible for their choice to attend Chavez Elementary’s Spanish immersion program.
[quote]The district map, if the distance scale is accurate, does suggest that the area that supplied a significant number of students to Valley Oak ES is at least as close if not closer to Montgomery ES than Birch Lane or Korematsu.[/quote]
Creating a safe route to school is a problem when kids north of Hwy 80 are sent to a school south of the freeway. The kids would have to go through downtown, through the tunnel and over the freeway overpass or go down to Poleline and go over the freeway, then cross a very busy intersection to get to the school.
My daughter goes to NDE, and there is a very diverse student population that seems to work well on that campus.
I cannot comment on other schools.
However, when I was on the CC in 2000-04, sometimes we considered affordable housing projects and locations, and very definitely we got pushed back hard from some neighborhoods who did not want that housing in their area. I think it was a combination of not wanting “those people” (ie, blacks, Hispanic) and their economic challenges on the block.
Rifkin: [i]However, as I look at the boundary maps, it appears to me that almost all of the students who would have gone to Valley Oak are now going to Birch Lane or Korematsu. [/i]
And the bulk of the teachers that were at Valley Oak when it closed were reassigned to Korematsu.
“Are you really trying to set the stage to claim that for every person who made some obviously (or arguably) racist remark at the meeting is just the tip of the iceberg, confirming there’s yet 100 more racists sneaking around Margarite Montgomery?”
Exactly, at that rate just 2 1/2 quotes covers everyone at the meeting and depending on the student populaton at Montgomery I’m sure 7 or 8 quotes (give or take) will cover all of the students parents.
I could not stay for the whole meeting, and I missed the public comments. But from my impression and that of a couple of others who stayed to the very end, it did not seem as a contentious meeting as the tone of the comments would suggest. And definitely less contentious than the issues surrounding the closure of Valley Oak Elementary.
DAVID G.: [i]”We know what this is about, the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos …”[/i]
My take is that to make that conclusion (without speaking with anyone who lives in the Montgomery boundaries but is not sending his child to Montgomery) you have to have a certain, jaded view of humanity. You almost have to assume the worst of all people in circumstances like this. I think David’s conclusion says a lot more about him than it does about the parents in S. Davis.
My own worldview is just the opposite. Unless someone individually has a history of racial animus or has aligned himself with a troublesome group in this respect, I always give people the benefit of the doubt.
I think the Greenwaldian worldview–common on the left–is a glass is half-empty one. The Don Shors of this world who assume that people may be motivated by trying to make life better for their kid–sending him to a magnet school, for example, see the world as half full.
When the Muslim teenager some years ago got into the South Davis Safeway parking lot situation and the police investigated it, people like Greenwald (and some on the city’s Human Relations Commission) concluded that any mistakes the police officer in the case made (if he made any) were due to his religious bias against Islam. Greenwald and the rest have that worldview which informs them (without supporting evidence) that people don’t just make mistakes. He views them as having bad motives regarding race or religion. I think that is a terrible way to look at the world, to constantly assume the worst in people and to think you know that someone else harbors a prejudice, even if the person harbors none at all, as was the case with the officer in the case at the Safeway parking lot.
“people like Greenwald (and some on the city’s Human Relations Commission) concluded that any mistakes the police officer in the case made (if he made any) were due to his religious bias against Islam.”
This is untrue, I never once made the claim that mistakes by the police officer were due to his bias against Islam.
Here is a comment from a S Davis resident (SODA) whose kids are grown. When we moved to Davis in 1998 our youngest was in 5th grade and accepted in GATE which was only at Valley Oak. We were pleased to drive her or bike her to Valley Oak, not only for the education, but for the diversity. Davis was too homogeneous for our liking and VO especially BC of grad student kids at that time, provided more diversity.
I believe we all should use the word racist in a much more discriminating fashion than we do.
[i]”This is untrue, I never once made the claim that mistakes by the police officer were due to his bias against Islam.”[/i]
If you never made that specific comment in that specific case, then I withdraw my remark. However, that certainly was the impression I got from your continual critique of Officer Ly, that he mistreated Halema Buzayan because she was a Muslim. In fact, if I recall correctly, when your friends from San Francisco filed suit against the City of Davis on behalf of the Buzayan family, they made that charge as well.
Speaking of which … did the parties eventually settle?
Their case is still pending as of the last time I checked with the family and attorneys.
Here is the last article I wrote which is now over two years old, link ([url]http://davisvanguard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3268:judge-allows-buzayan-case-to-proceed-while-strongly-rebuking-davis-police-officers-conduct&catid=74:court-watch&Itemid=100[/url])
I think the religious thread is relatively thin. Officer Ly was probably mistaken to assume that because the mother was wearing her head scarf and the daughter wasn’t when he saw them, that that was always the case. It is certainly a thin reed to make the conclusion that the family was lying. But I don’t believe that is evidence of racial animus. I think there are a lot more serious charges and problems with that case.
Rifkin….”I think David’s conclusion says a lot more about him than it does about the parents in S. Davis.”
Bingo!
The white kids are doing fine. Its the latinos that should want to move to a school that serves them better.
Maybe they should close Montgomery and reopen valley Oak. Just kidding.
If you look at the reports from the committee, you will see:
There are 66 students going from MM to Pioneer.
There are 63 students going from Pioneer to MM.
Of the 63 going from MM to Pioneer: 28 are white, 5 are Asian, 3 are black, and 26 are Hispanic.
Of the 66 going from Pioneer to MM: 43 are white, 9 are Asian, and 14 are Hispanic.
Most of the rest of the outflow from MM is students going elsewhere for Spanish Immersion or GATE in 4th grade.
For the record: 279 students transfer out of Birch Lane, only 103 of whom are going to CCE (presumably for Spanish Immersion). 195 students transfer out of MM.
Transfer rates as percentages are:
Birch Lane: 41%
Korematsu: 41%
Montgomery: 44%
NDE: 34%
Patwin: 32%
Pioneer: 31.5%
Willett: 35%
Ryan Kelly: [i] Give extra resources (science, band, art instruction) so that teachers can release students and have time for more small group instruction for ESL students.[/i]
What’s unfortunate about this perspective is that these ESL/low SES students probably need the science, music and art instruction even more than most. All day long it’s drilling in English and math for these folks.
“The folks out there have shown a lot of acceptance over the years. “
I think this phrase is more telling than it was intended to be and illustrates finer nuances than either side in this debate seem comfortable accepting. The interesting word for me in this sentence is ” acceptance”. Old Skool please correct me if I am wrong, but the use of the word “acceptance” seems to me that there is something undesirable about a given group of people, that another group has graciously “accepted”.
To me, this implies some form of social stratification. It doesn’t say what it is, could be socioeconomic, could b racial, could be religious, but certainly implies a “them vs us ” mind set.
I believe that David probably over generalized about the extent of the racism on display, but I also think the the degree of vehemence in the disclaimers that this could in no way represent racism or an elitist viewpoint is also a stretch. I think that desire for the best education for one’s child, greater comfort in having one’s child in a school with children of similar background, and more overt discriminatory attitudes are probably all represented to some degree.
Don, thanks for the data. Would you please provide some conclusions from them. Do you feel they support David’s feelings that the rich white people want out because of the Hispanics at MM? Or disprove them? Or support nothing associated with the White Flight and rich racism contentions? (I do fine with three variables, but get lost with data dumps the size of yours here.) Thanks.
It disproves his conclusions.
The problem is that DJUSD built three new schools when it only needed one. So Valley Oak got closed, but ultimately there aren’t still aren’t enough students. This pattern matches much of what you see statewide, by the way.
Students are moving around at just about the rate you’d expect. There is a higher [i]percentage[/i] leaving MM because it is the school with the lowest enrollment. If it matters: there are more white kids moving TO MM from Pioneer than the other way around. There are programs at other schools that are attracting kids away from MM. You want more kids at MM, add programs there to attract kids. Otherwise, this part is basically a non-issue.
The issue of performance at MM with respect to test standards is of concern, so the school merits more resources. The ethnicity and income status of who is leaving and who is left behind is of no consequence.
“How David describes the school: ‘…the school ranks as a high-performing school….’
How Elaine describes the school: ‘…a school so low performing it has been moved into Program Improvement status….'”
wdf1, are both of these statements accurate at the present time?
Here is an explanation: [url]http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/schools-news/davis-schools-rank-high-on-states-api-but-federal-standards-tag-two-campuses-for-program-improvement/[/url]
JustSaying: Don’s article citation at 5:35 pretty much sums it up.
Any school receiving Title I (Federal) money is required to meet the following objectives schedule of proficiency. This is for English proficiency in elementary and middle schools. Math objective targets are similar.
[img]http://www.quickanded.com/uploaded_images/test-711511.bmp[/img]
By 2014, any such school is supposed to have all students 100% proficient or above for set grade level standards. No other standards or subjects matter. You can read more about NCLB (No Child Left Behind) here ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_child_left_behind#Provisions_of_the_act[/url]). It offers a cudgel to Elaine or to anyone else who wants to disparage public schools for failing to serve students from poor families, most especially if you are patient enough to wait. Sooner or later the continually rising bar will be too high to reach.
Good conversations. I have a couple of points.
First, I think David demonstrates the prevalent “false racism” problem today. It is the practice of using statistics to jump to a conclusion of motivation and then falsely claim evidence of racial bias. It is a troubling thing because it legitimizes tribal voodoo thinking over real analysis and lowers the bar for denigrating groups lacking equivalent politically-correct protection status. False claims of racism hurt just about everyone. They hurt the reputation of the accused. They also hurt those disadvantaged by racial differences by: one – deflecting civic energy away from real root cause solutions, two – destroying individual self-confidence and self-determination for overcoming adversity and persevering (i.e., If it is racism causing my problems, then why try as hard?)
Second, I have made the point that I think the quality of Davis’s public schools are no better, and possible worse, when controlled for the gifted student academic gene pool and affluent families. The gap in outcomes by race is an indication of this point. However, I think a more exact indication would be a comparison by race between other school districts and Davis. I had looked at this previously, and although I cannot find my references to repost, I remember finding that Davis minority students did slightly worse than many other school districts we would consider inferior.
To bring these points home…
I have a good friend that teachers second graders at a Davis elementary school. She has one student, and African American boy, that has significant learning challenges and behavior problems. He is loud and disruptive to the rest of the class. He is aggressive and violent during play time. He has a hard time focusing and is behind academically. My friend is frustrated. She is spending a lot of her time dealing with this kid. She knows it is impacting the overall quality of her performance to the rest of the class.
My assessment of this situation is that my friend is not skilled enough dealing with the situation. She is much more used to a model Davis student that is frankly much easier to teach. Along with the principle, she met with the father of the struggling student and recommended he be moved to special education. The father immediately pulled the race card and threatened a law suit.
My friend is now getting calls from other parents angry that this kid is causing so much disruption and impacting her attention to the other kids. My friend thinks teaching is the hardest job in the world and feels completely frustrated and under-appreciated.
It is not her. She is great. It is the education system. It is broken. It is the environment of false racism. That is a part of our society that is broken.
I think the DJUSD offered a very good solution by mixing up the all the kids at the highest and lowest scoring schools in two K-3 and 4-6 grade schools…just like in our hallowed West Davis…but a majority of the locals in the neighborhood aren’t interested in doing what might work for everyone. “It’s all about me”. I think there are probably some racist individuals who have said some things that will not pass the smell test. But, I think what is more pervasive is the elitist, can we say “classist” attitude of “I’ve got mine and don’t need to worry about anyone else’s kids.
The fact is, NCLB is a stupid law that needs to be eliminated so that teachers can teach and practice their profession without being hamstrung with idiotic “metrics” that are aimed at destroying public education, and lining the pockets of testing agencies and consultants. Kids with special needs have to be dealt with to unlock true potential, or, at bare minimum, divert them from the criminal justice system. Sometimes that might be music, art or science programs, none of which fit in with NCLB. My wife, now retired, taught in Fairfield for 27 years in a school that was 90% underachieving, parents working two jobs with no real oversight in their children’s educational life. They love their children all the same and aspire for their kids to go to Harvard like Pioneer parents do. They are all races, and yes, Fairfield does a verrry poor job of making sure the kids in those neighborhoods get equal resources to the ones out by the country club. It may not be racism, but it stinks just as bad.
I don’t disagree that NCLB must go, but we need to remember the reason it was launched was to improve these very problems we are discussing. The education system as designed was failing before NCLB, and it is still failing. There needs to be some performance benchmarks. If not NCLB what should they be?
A big challenge at MME is the language barrier. EL parents have had a tough time communicating with teachers and staff; until a couple of years ago, almost no one could speak Spanish to the parents except maybe an EL teacher. Then they hired a front office staff person who is bilingual.
PTO participation is also a challenge. Meetings are run in English, and the EL parents often don’t know enough to function. I’m not sure that their school newsletter is translated into Spanish. How do you get parents involved in those conditions?
“It offers a cudgel to Elaine or to anyone else who wants to disparage public schools for failing to serve students from poor families….”
Thanks for the background reading. I don’t think you evaluated Elaine’s observation correctly, however. She was just pointing out that parents can be concerned about their school’s lowered classification without racism being the culprit. No cudgel intended on her part, in my opinion.
My apologies for misreading.
[quote]I have a good friend that teachers second graders at a Davis elementary school. She has one student, and African American boy, that has significant learning challenges and behavior problems. He is loud and disruptive to the rest of the class. He is aggressive and violent during play time. He has a hard time focusing and is behind academically. My friend is frustrated. She is spending a lot of her time dealing with this kid. She knows it is impacting the overall quality of her performance to the rest of the class.
My assessment of this situation is that my friend is not skilled enough dealing with the situation. She is much more used to a model Davis student that is frankly much easier to teach. Along with the principle, she met with the father of the struggling student and recommended he be moved to special education. The father immediately pulled the race card and threatened a law suit.
My friend is now getting calls from other parents angry that this kid is causing so much disruption and impacting her attention to the other kids. My friend thinks teaching is the hardest job in the world and feels completely frustrated and under-appreciated.
It is not her. She is great. It is the education system. It is broken. It is the environment of false racism. That is a part of our society that is broken.[/quote]
Oh, does this bring back memories as a former teacher. Let me tell you, there are kids that don’t belong in the public schools – they have such deep seated problems that the average teacher cannot deal with them. Yet as a teacher, you have no choice but to cope with such students, unless you have a supportive administration that gets it, which is unusual. I was responsible for getting a child expelled from school – through the back door – and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. This kid and his posse, after taking over a portable classroom full of students with a cowed teacher in it, beat one of the students, who was going to the office for help. No one else had the courage to act, which enraged me, so I did what I felt I had to do. No regrets.
[quote]Thanks for the background reading. I don’t think you evaluated Elaine’s observation correctly, however. She was just pointing out that parents can be concerned about their school’s lowered classification without racism being the culprit. No cudgel intended on her part, in my opinion.[/quote]
No cudgel intended. I’m not particularly in favor of the NCLB program…
[quote]dmg: “I’m just going to call a spade a spade. I never said I thought 65% of the parents in south Davis are racists.”
dmg: “the affluent white families of South Davis apparently do not want their kids to go to school with Latinos”
dmg: “I don’t know how many there are, enough that I got calls from people who were appalled as to what they heard and read. I don’t think you’ll be able to escape this one, but I’d love to watch you try.”[/quote]
This has to be some of the most fallacious reasoning I have ever seen. You might try taking a logic course – it will be good for you!
When I was a parent volunteer in my son’s class at Valley Oak, there were 4 – 5 kids, mostly boys but one particular girl as well, who were very problematic for the teacher. During my two afternoons a week, the teacher assigned me to a table she had grouped them at, and that enabled her to give more attention to the rest of the class (I am tall and have a very deep voice, which seemed to help). There were a couple of others in the class who clearly had emotional problems that even I could recognize. It gave me a much deeper appreciation for what teachers deal with on a daily basis.
The counselors and special ed teachers are vital to the success of these students. Schools that have higher numbers of struggling students need more resources. I believe focusing on the race and ethnicity sidetracks the discussion and creates artificial barriers.
I urge you all to read the report of the committee that dealt with this subject. It is much more comprehensive than the Enterprise and Vanguard articles might lead you to believe. Clearly the committee struggled with these issues, and I want to emphasize that they did not prescribe any solutions. Instead, they identified possible policies and itemized the pro’s and con’s of each.
Here is the page to start with: [url]http://www.djusd.net/learn/instruction[/url]
Click on South Davis Enrollment Committee for the pdf files.
“gifted student academic gene pool and affluent families.”
Where is that gene located or is it only located in your head?
“dmg: “I’m just going to call a spade a spade.’ ”
This is a perfect example of unconscious racism. Don’t feel bad David we all do it. It is why I learned that we are all racist, not overtly, but we all do things that we don’t even realize are offensive to others. It is why I find it laughable when people who get called out for racism try to deny it. it is undeniable because it is the person that hears, reads or feels it who decides.
I think the bottom line is that Davis closed a school with a top notch ELD program because it built some new schools based on false expectations of growth and that fabulous ELD program was cut because it was housed in an old school. Now a different school is caught by “The soft bigotry of low expectations” for underperforming minorities that W Bush wanted to attack with NCLB. I guess what, in industry, they call technology transfer, is not easy to do in education.
Its a pain in the ass to deal with to be declared a problem school under NCLB because teachers and administrators come under all sorts of pressure and jump through a bunch of hoops with training and meetings that feel insulting and more about complying than addressing the problems. On top of that the public doesn’t really understand how the process works so all kinds of conclusions are made that do not reflect what the real issues are that need to be addressed.
My sense is that the best thing the district could do is reassemble the Valley Oak group that did so well at MM and tackle the root of the problem with the ELD program.
[i]”Where is that gene located or is it only located in your head?”[/i]
I wish it was located in my head. Then I could have achieved a 4.2 GPA and got accepted to an Ivy League school and became a liberal Democrat bent on helping all the less intelligent people from having to work as hard.
[quote]ScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2006) — Psychiatric researchers at The Zucker Hillside Hospital campus of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have uncovered evidence of a gene that appears to influence intelligence. Working in conjunction with researchers at Harvard Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics in Boston, the Zucker Hillside team examined the genetic blueprints of individuals with schizophrenia, a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by cognitive impairment, and compared them with healthy volunteers. They discovered that the dysbindin-1 gene (DTNBP1), which they previously demonstrated to be associated with schizophrenia, may also be linked to general cognitive ability. The study is published in the May 15 print issue of Human Molecular Genetics.[/quote]
I think this also explains why some academically-gifted people tend to be half nuts.
Great, so is that the only gene that matters? How do you know its frequency in Davis is higher than average?
[i]”This is a perfect example of unconscious racism.”[/i]
[quote]”Yer Honor, the prosecution demands that he receive the maximum penalty for this unconscious hate crime. We need to set an example for society that unconscious hate will not be tolerated.”[/quote]
Next up: “pre-unconscious racism”… an alleged hate crime from just having a look that you are about to have an unconscious racial thought.
I have absolutely no racial bias. However, I do have bias for people that say or do stupid things but then refuse to learn from them.
[quote]My sense is that the best thing the district could do is reassemble the Valley Oak group that did so well at MM and tackle the root of the problem with the ELD program. [/quote]
Bingo!
[quote]The counselors and special ed teachers are vital to the success of these students. Schools that have higher numbers of struggling students need more resources. I believe focusing on the race and ethnicity sidetracks the discussion and creates artificial barriers. [/quote]
When I was teaching, we had some teachers during their planning sessions or extra time, work with problem students. We made do. However, some kids have so many serious problems, they need another entire school or a school within a school, to deal with their difficulties. And some of these students do not belong in the regular school population. In other words, massive resources for a single student. However, it is either “pay me now or pay me later”. If the students don’t get the help they need in school, they will probably end up in the prison system, which is much more costly for society in the long run.
Toad, let’s say I am wrong and science is wrong and there is nothing in our individual genetic code that explains intelligence. The Davis kids still have an advantage having highly-educated parents. These parents are better equipped to effectively tutor their little darlings.
I have always been an over-achiever. I took all the difficult classes, did all the homework, took all the notes, studied before all the tests… and still could not keep up with the brainy kids in my class doing half the work. Of course many of those kids were not as artistic as me, and most did not have my athletic gifts and sports court and field intelligence.
I think there are several different types of intelligence. Unfortunately, the public education system has continually narrowed the type that it responds to and values. It is what I call academic intelligence (the ability to earn a high GPA), and Davis kids are more gifted with it.
Elaine: [i]”However, some kids have so many serious problems, they need another entire school or a school within a school, to deal with their difficulties. And some of these students do not belong in the regular school population. In other words, massive resources for a single student. However, it is either “pay me now or pay me later”. If the students don’t get the help they need in school, they will probably end up in the prison system, which is much more costly for society in the long run.”[/i]
I agree with this 100%.
All kids deserve a school that can best satisfy their needs as students. The problem is that the design of our education system is constrained by an irrational and asinine demand for fairness. Our fear that some kid may get more attention than another prevents us from teaching to the individual student. Instead, we teach a model template student… one that continually narrows in definition. Then we wring our hands over the growing crisis in education as dropout rates increase and outcomes plummet.
I have said it before… I would vote to tax myself more for a drastically reformed education system that gave hope that many more kids would be provided an engaging and high-quality education experience. Throwing more money at the existing system as design has proven to not work.
Still waiting for the hundreds of racist quotes and letters from the affluent white South Davis parents.
“Still waiting for the hundreds of racist quotes and letters from the affluent white South Davis parents.”
You do understand it takes a little time to process public records requests – you don’t get them instantly?
“I have absolutely no racial bias. However, I do have bias for people that say or do stupid things but then refuse to learn from them.”
You just contradicted yourself.
JB: [i]Of course many of those kids were not as artistic as me, and most did not have my athletic gifts and sports court and field intelligence.
I think there are several different types of intelligence. Unfortunately, the public education system has continually narrowed the type that it responds to and values. It is what I call academic intelligence (the ability to earn a high GPA), and Davis kids are more gifted with it.[/i]
I agree with you in a certain way about different types of intelligence, and I agree that the public education system, especially under the mandates of NCLB, has greatly narrowed the range of what is taught and offered in the schools.
I disagree with you, though, that the Davis schools specifically cater to a high-caliber academic template. Sure there are those students, but if you were to involve yourself more in school discussions, I think you would find that the asset of the Davis schools is that it offers more variety than is typical for a district the size of Davis.
Jeff:
“I have absolutely no racial bias. However, I do have bias for people that say or do stupid things but then refuse to learn from them.”
Toad:
You just contradicted yourself. “
???????? No he didn’t.
I am a Pioneer parent, so I have been following this situation for the last year. I want to bring up a couple of points that haven’t been addressed in the story or comments:
– The district’s liberal policy for school transfer played a role in the current state of schools in South Davis. I’ve never heard of a district giving parents such freedom to “shop around” beyond a magnet program here and there. One of the most interesting stats in the SDEC’s report was that roughly 50% (!) of Davis students go to school outside their neighborhood boundaries. When you let every parent choose from every school in the district, you’re creating a free market economy situation for your schools, and just as in the free market, some schools thrive and some schools don’t, and this is what’s happening to MME.
– I can’t speak for everyone, but in my personal experience, I don’t see race as driving the more vocal Pioneer parents’ (or anyone who transferred out of MME) unwillingness to consider solutions like school split. This is about class and income combined with an achievement-focused parenting culture, along with a resistance to any compromise at all on the Pioneer side. Not that it makes much difference in the end – it’s still segregation.
– I have concerns about the level of input and oversight the SDEC had during their year of work. It would have added a lot to the report if they had reviewed studies of innovations in other schools with similar populations, or tested their scenarios against research in the field, or gotten the scenarios vetted by the district’s legal counsel. I am one of the 11% of Pioneer parents who supported the school split scenario in the Pioneer survey. This would address the segregation problem, but is there any research out there that demonstrates that this would help the English-learning kids academically? Including research would have made such a stronger case for all of these scenarios. I’m also disappointed that the report did not recommend any strategies. I don’t want to bag on them too much, because they all volunteered their time to do this and worked very hard, but the fact that they didn’t recommend anything specific makes this all feel like an empty exercise before the Board does what it was going to do anyway.
I didn’t go to the Board meeting so I don’t know what was said there. I have been to a few very frustrating Pioneer PTA meetings about this issue, so I am pretty sure I’ve heard the worst comments from the Board meeting before. All I will say is that I’m deeply disappointed that our community has been so inward-focused and uncompromising.
A most excellent comment kristineg!